Hydrogen as a Fuel Source

The best way to understand the hydrogen fossil-free fuel economy is to see hydrogen as an ideal storage medium for solar energy. Collecting solar energy from the sun requires some kind of battery to store the energy. Although batteries are improving, it's unrealistic to expect battery technology to make it possible to store all the solar energy collected through thermal or photovoltaic solar to power homes. If that energy is converted into hydrogen and then that hydrogen is burned with oxygen in a fuel cell, electricity is limited only by the amount of hydrogen that is produced rather than the electrical storage capacity of the battery. Batteries wear out, must be recycled, and are expensive to manufacture. An electrical fuel cell is nothing but a battery that continuously makes electricity by burning hydrogen with oxygen.

The Hydrogen Fuel Cycle

Electricity is taken from the sun. The electricity then splits hydrogen from oxygen in water. Taking the H₂ out of the H₂0. That hydrogen is then captured and delivered to a fuel cell. The fuel cell makes electricity by burning the hydrogen with atmospheric oxygen. The output is electricity. The exhaust is pure distilled water. In other words, we have taken water, split the water with the energy of the sun, and used the stored energy of that hydrogen taken from the water and recombined it to make electricity. There are zero emissions and no carbon footprint.

A Perpetual Motion Machine?

The hydrogen fuel cell is not a perpetual motion machine. Energy to produce the hydrogen must come from the sun. It can come from renewable energy sources like wind, thermal solar, PV solar, or geothermal. What the hydrogen economy has is an ecological symmetry unparalleled even to the zero carbon foot print of nuclear energy. Although nuclear does not emit any carbon emissions in the production of electricity it does require a non-renewable limited energy source - radioactive uranium. Although plentiful in the short term, eventually (unless it is recycled), uranium mine supplies will give out. Hydrogen is harvested by electricity and that electricity comes directly from the nuclear furnace that is our sun. The radioactivity stays with the sun and the electromagnetic radiation is harvested in the form of wind or other renewables.

No matter how densely populated the planet may become, there is enough hydrogen in water to fuel the entire planet. Because the exhaust is steam or distilled water, the water used to produced hydrogen is actually rejoined with atmospheric oxygen in the electricity releasing process. So the water that is used for fuel is returned to water after the fuel is "burnt" or oxidized.

The Hydrogen Fuel Cell

Hydrogen can be burned like gasoline in an ICE (internal combustion engine), as in the famous Schwarzenegger Hydrogen Hummer, but the hydrogen fuel cell, which produces a continuous stream of electricity as long as hydrogen is supplied, is a much more elegant solution.

The hydrogen fuel cell is nothing but a battery that that produces electricity by oxidizing hydrogen with oxygen that is freely available in Earth's atmosphere.

This is no different than a gas oven, a gasoline car, or a propane barbecue. The fuel burns because of oxygen. Even the Space Shuttle has to carry it's own oxygen to burn its millions of pounds of hydrogen that fuels the main rockets.

The hydrogen fuel cell was developed by NASA for the Mercury astronauts to provide them with electricity and clean drinking water while in space. While satellites are powered by solar panels, space ships -- which must reenter the earth's atmosphere and therefore be aerodynamic -- cannot have large solar arrays.

An Old Technology

The first working hydrogen fuel cell was invented before the Civil War. Then they were rediscovered and deployed in the 60's space race. This is a tried and true reliable technology.

Why isn't Earth already hydrogen based?

A primitive fossil fuel technology has not been updated because oil cartels wish to retain control.

So then why are the oil companies in the hydrogen business?

Interestingly, when the State of California mandated experimental hydrogen cars under Gov. Schwarzenegger's leadership, it was the Shell Oil company banner that was proudly displayed on the experimental hydrogen refueling stations. The oil companies are trying to give the public the idea that the best way to get hydrogen is by removing it from the complex hydrocarbon that exists in oil. It is true that you can separate the "hydrogen" from hydrocarbons, but there are 2 problems:

First, you have to use some kind of fuel to heat or fractionate the oil or natural gas to release the hydrogen. Second, in the process, you release various noxious carbon gases in the combustion process. So if you produced hydrogen from oil or natural gas, you could clean up cities since the vehicular exhaust would be pure steam, but the global warming climate change impact would be no different than burning gasoline.

Interestingly enough, when push came to shove, Shell chose not to supply hydrogen from fossil fuels, but instead realized that it would be cheaper and easier to make their hydrogen filling stations produce hydrogen on the spot through electrolysis. In other words, after the oil industry has told us for 25 years that there is no hydrogen pipeline infrastructure (like there is for oil and gas) to move hydrogen as fuel around, the demonstration hydrogen filling stations in California make hydrogen the same way you can make it at home.

Water from the city water system is distilled through an ordinary dual osmosis filtration system (like the purified water you buy at the grocery store), then ordinary electricity is passed through the water and Presto! -- hydrogen is available at the filling station. The energy of the electricity is used to separate the hydrogen out of the water and then that energy is placed in the hydrogen fuel cell car and powers the cars. The electricity has been transferred as potential energy in hydrogen and then released when it is burned in the fuel cell. Interestingly, when you look on top of these Shell hydrogen refueling stations, you see a large solar cell array, which means the electricity needed is mostly coming from the sun!

Critics of the hydrogen economy say that energy is lost when you use electricity to make hydrogen, and that further energy is lost when hydrogen is burned in a fuel cell battery. Both of these are true. But hydrogen provides an alternative to the battery dilemma, which is, if you are making 100% renewable energy in real-time, what do you do when the sun is not shining? Going back to fossil fuel is not the only option.

Until battery technology becomes more efficient and less expensive, hydrogen as a means of energy storage has no peer. It's non polluting, recycles itself on earth through it's combustion into water, and we will never run out. You can combine this conversion to hydrogen with a primarily electricity-based transportation system and powering of Earth. Using hydrogen as a energy storer, you have solved the global warming and energy difficulties on this planet.

Small solar arrays have been very popular in bringing electricity for computers, cell phones, and nighttime lighting in places where there is no electricity. To expand the capacity for energy storage in these "off-the-grid" areas, hydrogen offers an easy alternative. To store electricity made from the sun "off-grid" all you need is

1. a solar panel
2. a fuel cell battery
3. distilled water (which can be made in a passive solar still)

Like the semiconductor revolution where computer chips get faster and cheaper every 16 months, the same would be true for solar cell and hydrogen fuel cell technology if there was demand.

When you consider the exploitation of oil -- from the extreme dictatorships of Africa selling oil to big countries in exchange for guns, to the funding of terrorists groups world-wide from oil purchased from the Persian Gulf -- switching to electricity solves all these problems.

The Future

It is entirely possible to convert our vehicles to hydrogen power. Will we see a hybrid, multi-use, multi-application of hydrogen, pure solar generated electricity, and nuclear generated electricity employed in a variety of transportation and power uses? Will the fossil fuel cartels win out with their natural gas "alternative energy solution"? Stay tuned.

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The Hydrogen Minute is dedicated to the future of a hydrogen civilization, where planet Earth replaces fossil fuels with the most common element in the universe -- hydrogen. Our mission at the Hydrogen Minute is to show how hydrogen can power transportation and energy needs for the planet with zero emissions.