Hydrogen: the Fuel of the Future?

2080 Words5 Pages

Hydrogen: the Fuel of the Future?

The Problem:

For years, United States citizens have been using natural gases and oils to power their cars. While doing so we have also been polluting our environment, making ourselves dependant on other regions of the world, and depleting our oil reserves. Rory Sporrows of “Geographical” wrote, “The car is responsible for combusting eight million barrels of oil every day, contributing to nearly a quarter of total global greenhouse emissions and causing major increases in bronchial diseases like asthma and emphysema.” (2001) Oil is not a renewable resource. One day it will run out. The graph to the left depicts that in these times in which we should be conserving what we have; we are doing exactly the opposite. Although the United States makes up only five percent of the worlds population, it consumes more than twenty-six percent of the world’s oil. And if we let our situation get to the point that we run out of oil, our average internal combustion, gasoline engines will no longer work. We will be forced to turn to alternative means of power.

Hydrogen Fuel Cells:

There are many alternative means of power that have been suggested: solar, wind, hydro, and hydrogen fuel cells to name a few of the more popular ideas. The focus of this research paper is hydrogen fuel cells.

For hydrogen fuel cells to work the process requires pure hydrogen. However, hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, pure hydrogen doesn’t occur naturally anywhere on earth. We have to refine it ourselves.

Water can be split into separate parts through a process called reverse electrolysis. Water or H2O, seen in the diagram to the right, can be decompressed into free-floating hydrogen (H) at...

... middle of paper ...

...ar Plate for PEM Fuel Cells. Retrieved February 18, 2003, from the World Wide Web: http://www.ornl.gov/spm/methods/Composites/BIPOLAR/plate.html

Hodges, M., & Laherrère, J. (August, 2001). Grandfather Economic Energy Report. Retrieved February 18, 2003, from the World Wide Web: http://mwhodges.home.att.net/energy/energy.htm

Motavalli, J. (2000). Forward Drive. San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club Books.

Office of U.S. Senator Harry Reid (Nevada). (1999). Why Hydrogen? Ten Reasons Why the United States Should Switch to a Hydrogen Energy Economy. Retrieved October 2000, from the World Wide Web: http://www.ttcorp.com/nha/why_reid.htm

Spowers, R. (2001). Dream machines. Geographical, 73, 56

U.S. Department of Energy. (updated daily). Fuel Cell Energy. Retrieved February

18, 2003, from the World Wide Web:

http://www.fe.doe.gov/coal_power/fuelcells/index.shtml

Open Document