Reasons Why Hydrogen is not more Popular as a Possible Renewable Source of Power
Friday, August 15th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
It is well known that hydrogen may have the potential to be an alternative power source, but it isn’t a very popular alternative. The technology for using hydrogen as an energy source is expanding every day, but most are reluctant to look to the technology as an alternative source of power. There are many issues with the hydrogen power source and most nations are not willing to take the risk of using the energy permanently. It has been said that hydrogen economy is a wasteful economy, as large amounts of energy are required to isolate hydrogen from natural compounds such as water and natural gas, and package the gas by compression or liquefaction. Hydrogen economy is also seen as wasteful because energy is lost once it is converted into useful electricity with fuel cells, which leaves only about 25 percent of energy for practical use. The amount of useable energy is unacceptable for the actual running and maintaining of a future economy.
Hydrogen is also not a more popular option for a renewable energy source, because more energy is needed to isolate the hydrogen from its natural compounds than the actual energy from its use. It is not seen as a wise decision to make a new chemical energy carrier form natural gas, because it would increase gas consumption and CO2 emissions. Most people believe that hydrogen is a good clean renewable source of energy because it is readily broadcast in newspaper, journals, and other media sources. However, the actual advantages of hydrogen use may be misleading, because the production of hydrogen actually depends on the availability of energy and water, which are becoming very difficult to find.
Scientists believe that hydrogen will never be able to fit into the economy. Most believe that the technology to establish a hydrogen economy is near, but it will not make economic sense for anyone. So, this makes hydrogen a highly unpopular source of renewable energy, as no countries are willing to take such an enormous risk. Hydrogen would have to compete with its own energy source in the marketplace, such as “green” electricity from the grid, so creating a new energy carrier would not be a wise decision. In fact, creating an energy carrier would bring up a no-win situation in the marketplace, and would not be a viable solution to an energy crisis.
Many scientists see making hydrogen into a useable energy source as wasteful. Hydrogen is not naturally occurring so it has to be synthesized. Therefore, it must be made from renewable electricity by electrolysis of the water that is used, and then the energy content must be converted into electricity with fuel cells once it is combined with oxygen to water. This separation of the hydrogen from the water requires huge volumes of electricity energy and large amounts of water. Hydrogen is also very unpopular because it is not officially a source of energy; rather it is simply an energy carrier. The hydrogen plays a similar role to the role water plays in a hydraulic heating system. Also, the delivery of hydrogen through a pipeline or through a truck, is much more expensive than the delivery of other energy carriers such as natural gas and gasoline.
The storage issue with hydrogen also contributes to its unpopularity as a renewable energy source. Storing liquid hydrogen requires that some of the gas must be evaporated for safety reasons, so after a few weeks of evaporation, a car would lose half of its fuel, even when it is not being driven. Hydrogen may appear to be a great source of renewable energy for some, but for many scientists and other experts it may be a waste of money and may only be good for some niche applications, such as submarines. The technology is astounding but the implementation is doomed and not possible, so hydrogen may forever remain a very unpopular source of alternative energy.
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