The Future Of Hydrogen Energy

As long as science searches for an alternative to fossil fuels, hydrogen energy will be a topic of conversation. Some scientists are even envisioning a hydrogen economy which will literally be fueled by hydrogen. The possibilities that hydrogen energy offers are nearly limitless. The practicality of hydrogen energy, however, is very limited indeed. At least it is for now.

The World Of Tomorrow

The lure of hydrogen energy is undeniable. Hydrogen is one of the most commonly-occurring elements on earth. It is colorless, odorless and completely non-polluting. In some types of production, the only waste product is pure water vapor. It has the best energy-to-weight ratio of any potential fuel, possibly because it is the lightest chemical element. This fact makes it possible that one day, hydrogen energy can be transported easily and cheaply.

Since hydrogen is an element of water, hydrogen energy can one day be produced in any country that contains water. No longer will any modern nation have to worry about depending on foreign sources for energy. One type of method, electrolysis with fuel-cell regeneration, is more than 50% efficient. Storage of hydrogen is stable. Hydrogen energy can be used to make electricity or to fuel combustion engines. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that with our current technology, manufacturing hydrogen energy takes more energy than it makes. Hydrogen is a gas in its pure form and does not exist in the environment except in volcanic gasses. That’s because, as a gas it is too light and escapes the earth’s gravitational hold.

Hydrogen can be extracted from water using electrolysis. This process results in the use of .4 joules of electricity for every joule it makes. It can be extracted from hydrocarbons like methane. When fossil fuels are used to power this extraction, pollution is the result.

It is more efficient to use the same fuel directly. It can be extracted from water using sodium, potassium or boron. The by-products are sodium oxide, potassium oxide or boron oxide.

More energy is lost if these by-products are recycled into the original form for reuse. The cost of building hydrogen energy plants and installing new combustion engines to use hydrogen energy would result in a loss compared to continuing using fossil fuels.

Using a fuel cell instead of a combustion engine could mean using up all of the earth’s platinum within two years. There is currently no efficient way to handle, store and transport hydrogen. While the future for hydrogen energy may be bright, the world will have to wait for technological breakthroughs to make it happen.

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