Hydrogen

The fossil fuel dependence problem is enormous, and no single solution exists. But imagine that instead of burning fossil fuels in our millions of cars, jets, homes, factories, and electrical generating plants, that we were burning a fuel that was virtually unlimited in supply and, upon being combusted, produced only clean water as a byproduct.  Imagine further that the supply of this fuel could be found anywhere that sunlight and water, even ocean water, is available, and that therefore this fuel can be produced anywhere, everywhere, locally, onsite.  Imagine still further that the only byproduct from consuming this fuel is clean potable water.

Hydrogen is being suggested as this fuel because it fits the above description almost completely.  The important caveat, and one that unfortunately less-than-knowledgeable proponents fail to recognize is that while hydrogen is abundant, it is chemically locked up in water and hydrocarbons. Before having the hydrogen to use as a fuel, it must be separated from the water or from hydrocarbons such as methane or natural gas; hence it is more accurate to call hydrogen an energy carrier than a fuel. 

There currently exists a large market for hydrogen.  Hydrogen is used at oil refineries to remove the sulphur from gasoline for cleaner burning fuel, and to crack the heavier petroleum molecular chains in the increasingly less-than desirable heavier crude oils being pumped from the ground.   Hydrogen is also used to produce ammonia for fertilizer, and it is used in food processing to make hydrogenated fats out of other fats. It is a critical gas in semiconductor device manufacturing as well as in metallurgy, and powers the Space Shuttle. 

This hydrogen is produced primarily by steam reformation of methane, which requires first of course a supply (natural gas) of methane and energy to produce the steam, and the resulting byproduct is tons and tons of carbon dioxide― the most heinous greenhouse gas― being released into the air.   So, making hydrogen this way continues to exacerbate the fossil fuel supply problem and the global warming problem.  It is also clear that the price of hydrogen will depend on the price and availability of fossil fuels when produced in this way.

A number of companies produce electrolyzers that separate water into hydrogen and oxygen locally, on-site, using electricity from “the wall”.  Again, unless the electricity is from a renewable source, the hydrogen produced is not “green”.  Further, these units require distilled water, thereby consuming potable water and further electricity to make the distilled water.  Honda is introducing a “home hydrogen refueling station” that neatly fits in the garage and produces hydrogen from a supply of natural gas and electricity from “the wall”.  Again, carbon dioxide is produced and the electricity is not renewable.

Nevertheless, these hydrogen sources, though not green, are still useful in that they can supply the growing market need for hydrogen as a fuel and energy carrier for fleets of hydrogen fueled vehicles. For example, BMW, Honda, Ford, GM, Mazda, and others are committed to producing vehicles that either use fuel cells to convert the hydrogen to power, or internal combustion engines that are tuned to use hydrogen (BMW and Mazda, with the Mazda rotary engine being particularly well-suited to hydrogen because its design is immune to pre-detonation).  There are hydrogen fuel cell buses running in many major cities around the world, and UPS is converting a part of its truck fleet to hydrogen.  So, even non-green hydrogen is a good thing in that it is allowing a nascent transportation market to grow and become established, especially when fuel cells become reduced in cost.  This non-green hydrogen is thus growing a market for renewable hydrogen, and buying time for companies with technology for renewable hydrogen to develop product.

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