Is hydrogen fuel abundant enough for millions of cars?

Answer 1

If we invest enough money in it, we can do it. It's not really practical or even close t cost-effective at this point. I think Mike has the best answer of the ones I see posted here.

Answer 2

Hydrogen is a scam. They're throwing us a distraction so the public will keep buying gasoline cars and oil in the short term. Instead of pressing hard for more workable (but frightening) technologies like strong hybrids, straight electric cars, wind and solar power, and viable biofuels (biodiesel, NOT ethanol.)

Hydrogen already powers the Space Shuttle, but there you see the problem: Storage. How do you store enough hydrogen on a car to go 200 miles? How do you pump it in 5 minutes, to refuel? The Shuttle uses liquid hydrogen and energy-demanding cryogenics. Doesn't work for a car. There are no good answers for that, and none forthcoming.

Turning hydrogen into propulsion can be done today (inefficiently) through an engine, or efficiently (someday) through fuel cells. Making hydrogen is largely solved, just use electricity gotten from any source (wind, coal, nuke) to make it from water. We can make all the hydrogen we want given enough electricity, no problem there.

But storage (and inefficiency) sinks the deal.

Now let's get real: Battery electric cars work today, as you well know. Strong hybrids like the Chevy Volt are very close. Plug-in hybrids are even closer. Diesel is making a comeback and there's biodiesel. Diesel + strong hybrid make for a very efficient biofueled car.

Plug-in biodiesel strong hybrids powered by wind/solar... that's it, we're there, much more efficiently than "hydrogen" and with today's off the shelf technology. A hobbyist could build this.

Answer 3

Hydrogen fuel is not particularly common. Although hydrogen is the most abundant element both in the universe and on the planet, it is only found rarely in it's elemental form, which is what is used in a fuel cell. Hydrogen is not mined or harvested, but rather created by electrolysis of water. By running a current through water, the water molecules (H2O) are split into oxygen and hydrogen molecules, which can then be used as fuel. Therefore, hydrogen fuel is infinitely abundant, but another source of energy must be used in its creation.

Answer 4

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe but it loves to bind with other atoms. When combined with Oxygen we get water. Presently it takes more energy to release the hydrogen than the hydrogen produces.

Industrial hydrogen is currently derived from natural gas. The sad byproduct of cracking natural gas from natural gas is carbon dioxide, the very green house gas we are trying to avoid.

The toll to travel the hydrogen hi-way is too steep and dear.

Answer 5

Hydrogen is available on earth in practically unlimited quantity in water.

You have to break down the water, though, which is an energy intensive process.

At least you can recycle the water/hydrogen/oxygen forever to do it. You just need a source for that energy...

You should think of hydrogen as a storage medium for energy more than an actual source of energy.

Answer 6

All water (H2O) is two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. There are methods for separating the two but they include the use of electricity or other energy to do so. There are many promising alternative methods being developed but nothing that is feasible on a major scale yet.

They will get there.

.

Answer 7

It would be great if it were true. The problem of pollution would be solved.
Unfortunately the hydrogen now being produced for automotive use comes from petroleum sources, is expensive, limited, and the production methods are NOT pollution free.

Answer 8

Yes it is, but it takes electricity to generate hydrogen from water. Therefore it does not make sense--at least not yet.

Answer 9

Unfortunately hydrogen does not exist on earth in its elemental state. It is found combined with sometihing else such as oxygen to form water and carbon to form methane.

To get hydrogen from methane you release co2 back to the atmosphere and defeat your purpose to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases released to the atmosphere. You might as well just burn the methane and save the step of extracting the hydrogen.

To get hydrogen released from water in its elemental form so that you can use it as a fuel, requires approximately 50 kilowatt hours of electricity per kilogram of elemental hydrogen produced.

That is with the equipment currently availablle which works at 70% efficiency.

If you could get electrolysis equipment to work at 100% efficiency you would still use approximately 35 kilowatt hours of electricity per kilogram of elemental hydrogen. That is still a great deal of electricity for a kilogram of elemental hydrogen.

Note: One kilogram just a little over two pounds. That is approximately 2.2 pounds..

Then you have to consider the greenhouse gases emitted to the atmosphere where the electricity is generated.

If the electricity is generated in a coal fired plant you have the additional pollutants of radioactive Uranium and Thorium emitted to the atmosphere because coal is contaminated with radioactive Uranium and Thorium.

Also when the coal ash is removed from the furnace and allowed to sit on the ground, wind blows the ash and radioactive Uranium and Thorium all over the place.

When it rains, radioactive Uranium and Thorium leach into the rivers, lakes and streams polluting them. The Uranium also breaks down to form radioactive radon gas which is then released to the atmosphere pollutiing it.

Unfortunately producing hydrogen by electrolyzing it from water just puts the pollution somewhere else if a fossil fuel generating plant is used to produce the electricity.

If the electricity is produced by windpower, then you do not have the pollution problem and the hydrogen becomes a good way to store energy produced by windpower until it is ready to be used.

We do not have the additional generating capacity or the capacity in the electrical grid to accomodate the electrical production that would be required if we converted all of our cars to hydrogen.

The amount of electricity required to produce hydrogen for 100 million cars per year is approximately 5 quadrillion watts. (that is assuming each car uses 1,000 gallons of gasoline per year)

To produce that amount of extra electricity would require the addition of approximately 600 powerplants each with the capacity of one gigawatt. That is a lot of very large power plants to build.

If we were to use windpower, the amount of additional wind turbines that we would need would be approximately 950,000 additional wind turbines of 1.8 megawatt capacity if they had enough wind to produce power approximately 30% of the time, which is normal for wind turbines..

Hydrogen for cars is a lofty goal and it is doable if we are willing to put in the effort to do it. We just have to add the wind turbines or power plants and upgrade the capacity of the electrical grid.

Fortunately a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California at Irvine has developed the tools and parts to convert a standard gasoline engine to run on hydrogen so we can convert existing cars to hydrogen rather than buy new cars designed to run on hydrogen.

Also, we do not have to use the very expensive hydrogen fuel cells that cost over $100,000 for even a small economy car and $200,000 to $300,000 for a full size sedan.

Congratulations for asking a very good question.

Now your mission is to persuade the American People to do the things that I have outlined here so that we can convert all of our cars to run on hydrogen that was produced by electricity produced by non pollutiing windpower.

Answer 10

No, It takes more energy to produce and it is too costly and inefficient. We need better public transit systems and electric vehicles they have no emissions and the batteries can be recycled.