Radical New Gas Alternative
That Your Kids Will Be Using
hydrogen, H2, alternative fuel, renewable
energy, fuel, green energy by Darshan Goswami, M.S., P.E.
Hydrogen, produced from tap water, could become the forever fuel of the future,
generating power for homes, industry, and cars.
A new day is dawning for a revolutionary way to generate electric power from
renewable energy sources. Imagine a future where the electrical power needed to
run your computer, TV and DVD is generated from a small appliance about the size
of a dishwasher located in your home. Envision generating electricity without
combustion, and producing heat and pure drinking water as by-products.
Picture a world powered almost entirely by an infinitely abundant and totally
clean fuel. Hydrogen, the most common element in the universe, is that fuel,
which can be produced from *tap water* to generate power for homes and cars.
Imagine being able to drive your car more than 500 miles between fill-ups. The
car you drive could become a “power station on wheels” producing about 30 to 50
kilowatts of electricity. At work the parked car in the parking lot could be
making money for you by supplying energy to the power grid during peak hours.
The same fuel cells in the car parked in your garage could provide power for
your home use.
In the new age of hydrogen, each individual could become the producer as well as
the consumer of energy. Automobile, oil, and utility companies are spending
billions to make this dream come true.
*Renewable Energy Source*
Hydrogen is “a renewable, versatile, simple sustainable domestic energy” and
there is no danger of running out of hydrogen because it is the most abundant
element in the universe. Hydrogen can be produced through a thermal,
electrolytic, or photolytic process from fossil fuels, biomass, or water.
Renewable and nuclear systems can produce hydrogen from water using a thermal or
electrolytic process. People can even produce it in their homes with relatively
simple apparatus.
The Hydrogen Economy is the term used to mark the shift from fossil fuels such
as coal, oil, and gas to hydrogen. The vision of a Hydrogen Economy is one of an
unlimited source of fuel that would be used to generate energy without releasing
carbon and other pollutants into the air.
Hydrogen has the potential to do for the energy revolution what the computer and
the Internet have done for the information revolution. Fuel cells are considered
the “microchip of the hydrogen age,” the key to abundant energy from secure,
renewable resources. Ultimately, fuel cells supplying homes, businesses, and
industries could be linked to a national power grid allowing surplus power at
one location to be transferred to areas experiencing power shortages.
*Hydrocarbon Economy*
Today, we have a “hydrocarbon economy” but the transition toward a “Hydrogen
Economy” has already begun. In the very near future we will have weaned
ourselves from carbon and we will live in a “Hydrogen Economy” powered by
hydrogen energy from renewable resources. You will have access to hydrogen
energy to the same extent that they now have access to petroleum, natural gas,
and electric power.
Some cities, such as Chicago and Vancouver, already have buses powered by
hydrogen fuel cells. Ford, GM, BMW, Toyota, and Honda have prototype cars
powered by hydrogen. Ford chairman William Clay Ford Jr. has declared that the
fuel cell will “finally end the 100-year reign of the internal-combustion
engine.” Such efforts are leading the world toward the “Hydrogen Economy.”
The present fossil fuel economy has created significant environmental problems
worldwide. The Hydrogen Economy promises to eliminate all of the problems
created by the fossil fuel economy. The advantages of the Hydrogen Economy
include greater fuel efficiency, elimination of pollution caused by fossil
fuels, elimination of greenhouse gases, and elimination of economic dependence
on Middle East oil reserves.
*Good for Developing Countries*
Specifically, the Hydrogen Economy may be even more beneficial to developing
countries because it will generate more economic opportunities, reduce poverty
and offer a dramatically cleaner renewable resource to bypass at least part of
the expense of building a fossil fuel infrastructure.
The Hydrogen Economy could produce total decentralization of the global energy
market controlled by giant oil companies and utilities, and result in vast
redistribution of wealth and power. In a Hydrogen Economy utility companies will
become obsolete. The Hydrogen Economic revolution must overcome major challenges
in regard to the safe production, storage and transportation of hydrogen, and in
developing new sensor technology.
“World Hydrogen Energy Roadmap”^ must be developed to address hydrogen
production, delivery and transportation, storage, conversion, public-private
partnerships, research, codes and standards, testing, public education, and end
use products. This effort must include government, industry, universities, and
research laboratories.
Government subsidies and tax incentives could be used to encourage put the
Hydrogen Economy on a fast track. The goal of the program should be to develop
technologies to safely produce, store and transport hydrogen from water,
nature’s abundant and virtually free source of hydrogen.
*New Energy Revolution*
Hydrogen has the potential to do for the energy revolution what the computer and
the Internet have done for the information revolution. Global reliance on Middle
East oil will come to an end and international trade balances will be realigned.
Fuel cells are a “critical technology” that will bring a total revolution in the
energy sector and change the course of history. President Bush has referred to
fuel cells as the “wave of the future” and called for a “focused effort to bring
fuel cells to market.”
The ultimate goal is to use the renewable energy of the sun to split water into
its basic components of oxygen and hydrogen.
The Hydrogen Economy would open the doors for fundamental changes in our
economic, political, and social institutions, similar to the impact of steam
power at the beginning of the “Industrial Age.” The giant oil companies are
investing heavily in a hydrogen future to control the design, production, and
sales of the devices that produce and consume hydrogen. Fuel companies like
Shell, BP, and Texaco are forming hydrogen and fuel cell technology divisions.
The Hydrogen Economy is a bright vision for the future of energy that will
revolutionize the world by reducing our reliance for oil from Middle Eastern
countries. I envision hydrogen as the power generation fuel of the future that
will wean the world away from oil, slow global warming, and lift billions out of
poverty. If significant progress is desired, government and private partnerships
must be established to concentrate development efforts. A “Manhattan Hydrogen
Project” is needed to ensure the Hydrogen Economy vision becomes a reality soon.
About the Author: Darshan Goswami has over 35 years of experience in the energy
field. Until recently, he was the Chief of Energy Forecasting and Renewable
Energy at the Rural Development, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in
Washington, DC. Earlier, he worked for 30 years at Duquesne Light, an electric
utility company in Pittsburgh, PA.