what is the advantage of usng hydrogen opposed to e-85 and/or gasoline as fuel?

Question

is hydrogen more/less efficient? or is it less harmful to our environment?

Answer 1

One big advantage is that when it is burned (combined with oxygen) the end result is you get water. Water is burned hydrogen. (Think about this a second - "hydro-gen" the name of hydrogen means "creates water")

OK, so when you burn hydrogen in an engine, the only thing that comes out the tail pipe is water. That is a huge advantage because we are really worried about Global Warming and most scientists believe that Global Warming is being caused by making too much Carbon dioxide, produced by burning coal, gas or alcohol.

The second advantage of hydrogen is that it is really easy to get hydrogen fuel. You can make as much as you want IF you have electricity and water. Water is H2O right? If you have electricity you can split up water and divide it into Hydrogen and Oxygen.
It's easy, but I don;t want to make it sound too easy -- it takes a lot of electricity and right now we dont have any extra electicity and in order to get more, people might burn coal. So it wouldnt make any sense to use hydrogen to stop Global Warmning, if we use coal to make the electricity that makes the hydrogen. See what I mean! But if you could make the extra electricity from solar power or wind power, then that would be a good deal.

Using alcohol instead of gasoline is a pretty good idea, I think, except for one thing. To make the alcohol we are mostly using corn. If you use the corn to make alcohol, then you can;t use it to feed cows and pigs. So it would get a lot more expensive to raise cows and pigs. So, using corn for alcohol could make eating more expensive. We dont have enough corn to completely replace gasoline with alcohol. It might be possible to make alcohol from other materials, such as wood. So we have to check all these alternative out and see which one makes the most sense. In about 20 years or so I think we willhave it all figured out.

Answer 2

It is actually more efficient than gasoline in a ratio of 2:1 (combustion is more powerful, ethanol will deplete agricultural land and the emissions while cleaner than gasoline are still CO2. Hydrogen emissions are pure water vapor, the only problem so far is that obtaining hydrogen from water is an expensive process, that's why we need to invest in more research. By the way, BMW will start production of Hydrogen / Gasoline cars in 2007 (yes, next year) on their 7 series. The main market for now will be Germany and the US (California). Thank you for your time.

Answer 3

hydrogen can be burned as infernal combustion; or used in a fuel cell to produce electric.

electric is a far more efficient fuel for motive use as electric motors generate maximum torque at 0rpm and do not need complicated gearboxes, they can also recover energy during braking; hence hybrid cars give better mpg and trains use diesel electric.

hydrogen is only a transfer medium (it has to be produced by using other primary energy) - and it is very diffiult to transport, bulky & escapes easilly.
Compare to using batteries which can already be charged at home or work and will give a range >300 miles NOW.
see www.whokilledtheelectriccar.com

The effects of producing water vapour on congested streets on health, environment and buildings has not been researched.

Answer 4

Quick Answer: It is cleaner, more efficient, cheaper and relatively harmless to the environment.

Long Answer: A hydrogen economy is desired in order to solve the problems of energy supply and the ill effects of using hydrocarbon fuels.

Petroleum, which accounts for most of the hydrocarbons imported by industrialized countries, is refined into gasoline and diesel fuels to be used in automobiles and aircraft. Natural gas, another hydrocarbon fuel, and coal are burned for the generation of electricity. The burning of hydrocarbon fuels causes the emission of greenhouse gases and other pollutants. Furthermore, the remaining supply of hydrocarbon resources in the world is limited, and the demand for hydrocarbon fuels is increasing, particularly in China, India and other developing countries.

In a hydrogen economy, hydrogen fuel would be manufactured from primary energy sources and feedstocks, replacing gasoline.

Grid load balancing of electricity is a major issue in energy supply. Currently, this is done by varying the output of generators. However, electricity is hard to store efficiently for future use. The most cost-efficient and widespread system for large-scale grid energy storage is pumped storage, that is, pumping water up to a dam reservoir and generating electricity on demand from that via hydropower. However such systems will not scale down to portable applications. Smaller storage alternatives such as capacitors have very low energy density. Batteries have low energy density and are slow to charge and discharge. Flywheel power storage can be more efficient than batteries with about the same size, but there are safety concerns due to explosive shattering.

Because of the large quantity of energy released, per gallon, during its combustion, (i.e., its high energy density), hydrocarbon fuel is utilized in automobiles and aircraft. Fears that sources of hydrocarbon fuels will run out and concerns over global warming due to carbon dioxide (CO2) tailpipe emissions have given rise to a search for an alternative fuel to hydrocarbon fossils which does not have these problems.

Some believe that fuel cells, using hydrogen as a fuel, will be able to replace most internal combustion engines and will be able to solve most grid load balancing needs in the future.

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. It also has an excellent energy density by weight, which leads to it being used for spaceships like the space shuttle. Emissions of a hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell, in theory, consist of pure water. The fuel cell is also more efficient than an internal combustion engine. The internal combustion engine is said to be 20-30% efficient, while the fuel cell is 75-80% efficient (not accounting for losses in the actual production of hydrogen) and together with the electric motor and controller the drivetrain overall efficiency approaches 40% with low idling losses.

Answer 5

Hydrogen is less efficient (not as much energy is released for an equivalent amount of fuel). However, it's as environment friendly as anyone could want - the only exhaust product is water vapor!

Answer 6

E85 is a corn lobby invention and should be stopped.
Hydrogen burns clean and is more efficient, we just need an infrastructure to make it convienent for the average person.

I'm tired of answering questions....I don't feel like writing anymore

Answer 7

it is less efficient, no emmisions besides water (not harmful to environment)

Answer 8

i think it turns into water after its used in the engine

Answer 9

no hydrocarbons