Hydrogen

Is there a future for hydrogen power

Is there a future for hydrogen power? If you want an idea of how effective hydrogen can be as a provider of energy then you just need to look up during daylight hours.
The sun is a giant ball of hydrogen and helium gases, which when combined release enough energy to keep our entire planet alive, a mere 93 million miles away.
Hydrogen is a very efficient heat source and in the right circumstances its renewable credentials can be impeccable.
For example, when hydrogen is combined with oxygen in a fuel cell, electricity is produced that can be used to power vehicles or as a heat source directly, among other uses.

When this happens the only by-products are water and heat; there are no greenhouse gases.
Hydrogen has been used as a power source for decades including by NASA, which used liquid hydrogen from the 1970s onwards to send space rockets into orbit.
Hydrogen fuel cells also powered the shuttle's electrical systems, with the added bonus that the by-product  -pure water - could be used as a drink for the crew.
Another plus is hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe so the chance of us running out of it is very small indeed.
The fact such a potent carrier of energy is not being harnessed more widely is in itself a sign that hydrogen comes with its problems.

The first is hydrogen doesn't occur naturally as a gas on Earth - it's always combined with other elements. Water, for example, is a combination of hydrogen and oxygen (H2O).
We’ve got techniques for wrestling this insecure element away from the molecules it attaches itself to. For example, if you pass an electric current through water you can split the water into hydrogen and oxygen; the process is called electrolysis, and it's been around since Jules Verne's time.
But electrolysis requires lots of electricity and so the question is if that electricity is being produced in the conventional fashion - from fossil fuels - then is there really an environmental case for doing it?

Today, almost all the world's hydrogen is produced by "reforming" fossil fuels, which involves reacting your hydrocarbon of choice with steam. The products are carbon monoxide and hydrogen.
This is a well-known process that is not overly expensive. Yet producing hydrogen this way still creates carbon dioxide emissions and contributes to global warming.
The key to solving this environmental conundrum will be better harnessing renewable energy sources, including solar, wind and others, to provide the energy to process hydrogen fuel. Thus far doing this on a reliable basis and on a suitable scale eludes us.

Environmental questions aside, there is the issue of cost, which is very high, particularly when it comes to hydrogen fuel cells.
As on NASA’s rockets, hydrogen fuel cells make electricity and can be used for anything from powering electric cars to providing electricity to homes (usually where there are no power lines or as emergency back up).
Cars are an obvious place where hydrogen could be used to make a big different to emissions and help improve the environment.
Many auto manufacturers are looking at fuel cell technology but it remains prohibitively expensive to release a vehicle powered in this way.

General Motors recently said it would cost $100,000 to sell a hydrogen driven vehicle, compared to $40,000 for its electric car, the Volt.
There is also the abiding ‘chicken and egg’ question around infrastructure. Namely, why buy hydrogen cars if there are no refuelling stations? And why build a refuelling station if there are no cars and customers?
But for all the barriers to exploiting hydrogen, progress is being made. GM’s $100,000 price tag for a hydrogen car was $400,000 just a few years ago. In September 2011 Honda opened the UK's first open access hydrogen vehicle refuelling station at its manufacturing facility in Swindon.

Indeed, at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show there were numerous hydrogen prototypes on display. Mercedes showcased the F125, which it said underscored “the potential of hydrogen as the fuel of the future”.
Some governments are working with manufacturers to push things along: Germany has plans to set up 1,000 hydrogen fuelling stations by 2020, and Japan hopes to create an infrastructure for fuel-cell vehicles by 2015.
Iceland has gone the whole hog and announced it will be a hydrogen economy by 2050, although it has certain advantages over others such as abundant waterfalls and hot springs.

In terms of developing technology there are continued steps in the right direction. US researchers recently announced they had discovered a way to make “self-powered” cells fuelled by bacteria.
This would remove the external source of electricity that is currently required to power the process and thus reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
In the same way that hydrogen relies on other elements for its existence on Earth, so too do we need to rely on considerable technological innovation if we are to wed ourselves to hydrogen.