Hydrogen lies in one of the copious replacements for gasoline. It is not an energy source such as oil, but an energy carrier that is produced instead of digging and finding it underground. Though replacing fossil fuels by hydrogen fuel cell is very hard and costs a great deal, for the most part, hydrogen fuel cell is a zero carbon emission fuel which highly reduces the carbon emissions that causes pandemic global warming. Hydrogen is very helpful for nature by cause of replacing fossil fuels with hydrogen fuel cells might end global warming once and for all. Fossil fuels are very limited and they are used a lot. Fossil fuels are also very harmful to nature. Carbon emissions, that are produced from the use of fossil fuels, affects the globe …show more content…
by harming the ozone layer. Fossil fuels are used a lot around us by cars, and whenever the car runs out of fuel the driver usually refuels it at a station with fossil fuels. In contrast, Hydrogen which is an energy carrier; if used properly there would be no carbon emissions at all. For this purpose, scientists have come up with a way to use hydrogen instead of fossil fuels to fuel vehicles. Therefore, FCVs (Fuel Cell Vehicles) are now available, but not everywhere. For instance, Toyota Mirai, which is one of the latest hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, is now available at California. “Hydrogen atoms are stripped of their electrons to generate electricity and then combined with oxygen to form water as a by-product.” [Wasef] This quote explains a piece of information about the hydrogen energy process. Global warming is dangerous because global warming is the increase of earth’s atmosphere temperature which is caused mainly by the increased levels of carbon dioxide, and other pollutants. “There is a general consensus that if the planet warms by more than two degrees C, we'll be taking an enormous risk,” [qtd. in Cooper] Global warming is indeed dangerous. On the other hand, when hydrogen is used for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, there would be no emissions at all. Even though hydrogen tends to be made from fossil fuels, it also can be obtained from clean energy sources such as water, plants, and other sources. We have come into a time where we have a lot of technologies, sciences, and inventions that could lead us to make our world cleaner than it was before. Or, at least fix the mistakes that we did. Even though developing those vehicles that run by fossil fuels were very productive it is still harmful to nature and increases global warming. Hydrogen fuel cells are very interesting too. If we produce a lot of hydrogen to make electricity using chemical reactions, and that electricity is used to fuel our vehicles, machines, and buildings, then this could be our future, and it could be right now. Former president Bush says that “Hydrogen fuel cells represent one of the most encouraging, innovative technologies of our era,” [qtd. in Cooper] Fossil fuels impact the environment very badly. It causes air pollution, oil spilling, acid rain, and climate change. And many companies, without mentioning names, still use these fuels and produce a huge amount of carbon emissions. A calculation mentioned that the oil imports could increase, and if we don’t find a solution to this; our global warming risk might increase “The federal government estimates that U.S. oil imports will increase by 60 percent from 2002 to 2020 in response to falling domestic oil production and increasing oil needs.” [qtd. in Cooper] Some would say that one of the fuel cell cons is that there is a limited infrastructure, and it costs billions to build a nationwide network of reliable hydrogen stations. Although this may be true, if the world co-operated on paying the costs to save the world from global warming and end it once and for all, then yes it does worth paying that money to live in a safe environment where there is no global warming or air pollution. Hydrogen fuel cell could also be as efficient as fossil fuels are or maybe even better. For example, Toyota’s car is said to be very efficient “A Mirai with 5.0 kg of hydrogen is rated for 312 miles range.” [Cobb] But some would argue that hydrogen is very expensive. On the positive side, if hydrogen was massively produced using renewables and harmless materials then we would have cheap hydrogen to fuel our vehicles because of the renewables used in the massive production of hydrogen. One of the hydrogen fuel cell cons and how it is being developed into vehicles to reduce the carbon emissions is that it requires “A long-term play, indeed.” [Cobb] On the other hand if you look at the positive side you would think that it worth the long-term play. Also, some would mention that those hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are not safe. In reality, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are supposed to have tanks that are designed not to leak or that would not make any sense how that car is being sold. Nonetheless, in chemistry it is a fact that gas is lighter than air, and since the gas is lighter than air, it rapidly disperses. Today’s cars are very easy to refuel because of the huge availability of gas stations and infrastructure.
On the other hand, hydrogen has a very limited infrastructure which is considered as a point on the negative side, or you can say one of hydrogen’s cons. And as Kukreja argues about the pros and cons of hydrogen energy; he mentions that “Hydrogen is also hard to move around. Whereas oil can be sent through pipelines, and coal can be carried in the back of dump trucks, super-light hydrogen is hard to transport in a reasonable fashion. It is very expensive to move anything more than small amounts of it, making it impractical for most functions.” [Kukreja] What he said makes sense. Hydrogen is some sort of gas. It’s not a liquid, or solid which can be physically carried in a way or another. Kukreja also mentions that one of the hydrogen energy cons is that it is “Not easy to replace existing infrastructure” [Kukreja] In a common sense, that is logically true. But in reality, if we felt into a problem that is related to global warming. Then the globe would regret building those gasoline stations. Even though it is hard to replace existing infrastructure, it is also necessary to get rid of those infrastructure even if we didn’t have a replacement. But in our position, we actually have a replacement which is hydrogen energy and hydrogen fuel
stations. My hope is that, since technologies are getting better, and new inventions with spectacular abilities are coming out such as the three dimensional printing; I think we will be able to find out a way how to easily extract hydrogen and separate it from other elements, and that would help us low the costs of hydrogen since it is very expensive and hard to produce. Nevertheless, if hydrogen producing becomes easier, and costs go down, then replacing existing infrastructure wouldn’t be a big deal, because hydrogen energy would be a great replacement. Why? Because hydrogen then would be produced easily out of renewables, safe to environment, and cheap. On the contrary, fossil fuels are limited and harms the environment. When hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are used instead of normal fossil fueled cars then a big change would happen. Global warming is caused from carbon emissions that come out of fossil fueled cars, and other pollutants. Hydrogen is used in a chemical reaction to produce electricity, and this electricity is used to fuel the vehicle that you are driving. Who knows, hydrogen fuel cell could be our future “normal” fuel for our daily basis machines. And safe, because it rapidly disperses and stored in tanks that are designed not to leak. Renewable and useful to stop the global warming. Could be produced from many different elements and one of them is water. Efficient as long as using renewables to produce the hydrogen and using chemical reactions to get the required electricity. Costs could be solved if the globe decided to co-operate and pay them together. Time is also required, but this is like opening a new clean white page. It’s like a new beginning. Imagine a world without carbon emissions, with pure air, with no climate changes, and no global warming once and for all hopefully.
The present global economy is nearly entirely dependent on petroleum and crude oil imports from the Middle East. Where the current situation stands now, oil prices will continue to skyrocket and the environmental impact will continue becoming greater if no form of alternative energy is implemented to a greater extent within the coming years. However, to this effect, the industrial cost of producing such forms of alternative energy is in itself primarily composed of coal and petroleum. In this light, I will investigate the practicality of hydrogen fuel cells based upon hydrogen consumption and exploitation. Hydrogen holds enormous promise for the future regarding alternative energy sources. To this point, its ability to be used in cars, weapons, and as miniature batteries has been demonstrated by many companies. However, if this is the case, hydrogen should be the leading supplier of power around the world. What prevents it from being so?
In nature hydrogen is always found combined with other elements, which means it has to be manually made by passing an electric current through water to form hydrogen and oxygen. There is a tremendous amount of energy involved in splitting the molecules to free the hydrogen from its captor. The current method of producing hydrogen from water is through the use of oil and coal. Oil and coal are the two main resources the world is trying to cut back on. The main purpose of using hydrogen is lost when considering the actual manufacturing process of hydrogen contributes a significant amount of carbon dioxide. When the big coal and oil companies start investing their profits in hydrogen, something has gone awry. Each company sees its future limited and wants to ensure their survival. Since they have the most money they will be the main producer of hydrogen. The hydrogen economy will benefit the mining and oil industry at the cost of the clean-energy dream.
in 1838. Then in 1932, the first successful fuel cells were engineered by Francis Thomas Bacon
The world is dependent on fossil fuels as the prime source of power to meet our energy demands. What are fossil fuels? “Fossil fuels come in three major forms-coal, oil, and natural gas. Because fossil fuels are a finite resource and cannot be replenished once they are extracted and burned, they are not considered renewable.” - (United States Environmental Protection Agency) When the supply of fossil fuels is completely exhausted, what will we rely on to meet our energy needs? An alternative option available that should be implemented more in our use is renewable energy, energy that can be replenished, such as solar, wind, and hydropower. - (United States Environmental Protection Agency) Even though the dependency on fossil fuels is tremendous,
Over the last two centuries, humanity has become increasingly reliant on fossil fuels. Over that time, the consequences of constantly burning fossil fuels have accumulated into a threat to industrialized cities. The burning of fossil fuels causes acid rain to shower on cities and ecosystems around the world, tormenting their inhabitants. The increasingly deadly pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels has caused the deaths of many people around the world by causing respiratory problems. Not only has the pollution worsened, but the supply of fossil fuels is not limitless – as humanity’s reliance increases the supply decreases, and that is all the more reason to break humanity’s reliance on fossil fuels. Fossil fuels should be replaced with cleaner alternatives because fossil fuels cause environmental hazards, are non-renewable, and are detrimental to human health.
Fossil fuels are an unreliable and unsafe source for worldwide energy. Our common fuels will run out as in: Ethanol, Petroleum, and Oil. Honestly we need those fuels for life, to drive cars, four wheelers, lawn mowers, and tractors, etc. If we did not have those things anymore our ways of living will drastically decrease. People in our society are so use to driving vehicles that if that gets taken away World War III would start. We use lawn mowers to cut our grass, to keep our land in shape and pretty. We also use tractors for multiple things not only to keep big pastures in shape, but also to use for logging. People do logging for a living. Without tractors their job would be very intense.(conserve-energy-future.com)
California is perfect for hydrogen energy because there are already so many gas stations in California that provide a hydrogen fuel option. In fact, there are 33 stations in California already! That means adding more shouldn’t be that hard. And since California is on the Ring of Fire, it works for geothermal energy, which requires heated water from inside the earth. California is a perfect location for that, as there is already plants for geothermal energy in that state. Together they could work perfectly. The conditions that are needed for a hydrogen fuel plant are proximity to a hydrogen plant. Louisiana and Texas are two other places in the United States that have many hydrogen fuel plants. As for geothermal energy, it needs to be in a place where very warm water can be extracted from the Earth’s crust. Some examples of such place would be anywhere around the Ring of Fire or in Iceland. By having these two energy
The effects of using fossil fuels are starker than their timelines. Humans release approximately two billion metric tons of pollution annually, mostly from the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas; this pollution is destroying our environment and the ozone layer. Ozone and smog damage forests, crops, and other plant life, and reduces visibility. Other pollutants have the same
...ination, hydrogen fuel and solar energy (World Economic Forum 2014). These are technologies that closely related to environmental and recourse preservation, which help the society switch to use renewable energy.
The three fossil fuels- coal, crude oil, and gas slowly formed over millions of years. These days, we use fossil fuels to power everything- homes, buildings, cars, computers, lights, etc. However, fossil fuels deposits will run out soon, which is a huge problem. Extracting, transporting, and burning fossil fuels are dangerous. There are also many negative biological and environmental impacts that result from the use of fossil fuels, such as ocean acidification, groundwater contamination, land subsidence, oil spills, and global warming. Therefore, we should be trying to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and explore alternative energy sources such as wind energy, hydroelectricity, and solar energy instead. Our world depends on fossil fuels, but they can also hurt us. Fossil fuels are both a blessing and a curse.
Hydrogen can be produced from a variety of feedstock. These comprises of non-renewable fossil resources, such as coal and natural gas, as well as renewable resources, such as biomass and water with input from renewable energy sources for example sunlight, hydro-power, wind and waves.
Hydrogen is one of the most abundant elements on the earth. It can be found in the oceans as well as the atmosphere. Over the last few years, talk about the future of hydrogen power has grown from a whisper to a roar. The use of hydrogen is not just the burning of the gas, but of its use in a fuel cell. Fuel cells might be the device that causes the extinction of the internal combustion engine. A fuel cell is a device that produces electricity from a fuel and an oxidizer, a substance that combines with the fuel. The fuel and oxidizer react chemically at two separate electrodes to produce the direct electric current; These cells use hydrogen as the fuel and oxygen as the oxidizer. Hydrogen power could be the silver bullet to the current and future energy situation.
The main components of the hydrogen economy are to use it as a fuel for transport, stationary power and as an energy store. There are a few methods for the generation of hydrogen; this could be from steam reformation, carbon gasification, biofuels or water electrolysis. This replacement for fossil fuels needs a lot more research to be completed before it can match the supply of energy that is needed to power the world. The development of hydrogen to be a major power source needs to be invested in soon due to the unpredictability of when the fossil fuels will run out and the economic grip that some countries have on them.
For years man has relied on energy in order to be successful in life. The industrial revolution relied on coal for the new inventions brought into the world. Life as has never been the same since then. However since that time, there has been little done to improve on energy efficiency and humans still primarily rely on fossil fuels for energy. For over a hundred years the Earth has become more polluted and dirtier than ever before. Now, with new, innovative technology there is an opportunity to change that and to rely on renewable, cleaner sources of energy. The main source of energy for the world should be alternative energy instead of energy from fossil fuels.
Fuels like coal, and oil that once were a fine innovation in creating energy are now rapidly deleting and one day will be gone forever; energy that won’t last is often referred to as non-renewable energy. Besides being set up to fail and become inefficient in the future, fossil fuel energy is not clean to use and poses several environmental complications. Coal, for instance is “the dirtiest of all fossil fuels. Coal combustion not only produces sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides that contribute to acid rain and snow, it generates millions of tons of particulates that cause asthma and other respiratory diseases.” As with all usage of fossil fuels, it creates enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, which contributes to greenhouse gas. Not only are fossil fuels dirty, they also pose as a security risk and unforgiving on the American wallet. (Saini)