Hydrogen can be made from
water by using the energy of the sun to create an electric current
which can then be utilized to split (electrolyze) water into
hydrogen and oxygen.
Wind power, tides and
falling water (hydro-electric turbines) can also create
electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. When hydrogen
is produced from the sun or other renewable energy sources it is
called "Solar-Hydrogen"
Hydrogen can be produced
from water, sewage, garbage, landfill accumulations, agricultural
biomass, paper product wastes and many other waste streams that
contain hydrogen-bearing compounds.
Hydrogen can be used as a
clean burning, non-polluting fuel in virtually every
application where other fuels are used today.
Because hydrogen is
pollution free, small personal or local power plants could be
designed to utilize much of the energy we now throw away.
Cogeneration with hydrogen could at least double energy
utilization compared to present practices.
These power plants could
be mass-produced so that the cost per kilowatt will be
substantially less than that of large conventional power plants.
All fuels need air
(oxygen) for combustion. Hydrogen is the only common fuel that is
not chemically bound to carbon; therefore when hydrogen burns in
air it produces only heat energy, water and possibly trace amounts
of oxides of nitrogen. Water and oxides of nitrogen are natural in
our atmosphere.
When hydrocarbon fuels
(coal, oil, natural gas, propane, wood) burn they may create
serious pollutants like carbon monoxide (a poisonous gas which is
produced by incomplete combustion) carbon dioxide (a greenhouse
gas), an extensive list of complex hydrocarbon chemicals and
quantities of particulate matter.
Hydrogen is the only fuel
whose production and end use can both contribute directly
to eliminating many of our most insufferable environmental,
economic, and health problems.
As a gas or a liquid,
hydrogen can easily be transported, stored and ultimately it can
be used in every application where primary fuels are used today.
This makes hydrogen an ideal, non-polluting energy carrier.
Unlike electricity, whose
production as a secondary energy medium must be juggled to
accommodate peak usage periods, hydrogen can be transported and
stored for industrial and domestic needs and to make
electricity at virtually any time.
It is less expensive to
move hydrogen across the continent as a compressed gas by pipeline
than an equal amount of electrical energy. Liquid hydrogen is the
safest and most economical choice for moving energy across the
oceans.
Hydrogen could be cost
competitive at 75 cents per gallon equivalent of gasoline. This
estimate is based upon large-scale extraction of hydrogen from
biomass wastes or solar thermal extraction techniques utilizing
large parabolic solar concentrators called Gensets. Solar Dish
Gensets hold the world efficiency record for converting solar
energy to electricity.
Burning hydrogen does not
contribute to the Greenhouse Effect, ozone depletion or acid rain.
Transition to a hydrogen energy system could restore the
atmosphere to natural conditions prevailing before these anomalies
became serious problems.
Hydrogen could be stored
and supplied through the same pipeline network that now supplies
natural gas. Depleted natural gas fields and similar geological
formations could also be utilized for storing hydrogen.
Over 400 cities once used
hydrogen for illumination, cooking, and heating before pipelines
were established for delivering natural gas from oil and gas
fields. Natural gas was cheaper because it came from the ground as
a pressurized gas that required little or no preparation for
market.
Hydrogen is naturally
produced by plants and animals. Hydrogen is not toxic.
Existing automobiles
could be economically converted to burn hydrogen fuel.
To improve air quality
some states have set zero emission standards for cars. A vehicle
converted to operate on hydrogen easily meets this standard and
can actually improve upon it by cleaning the air through which it
travels by reducing atmospheric concentrations of carbon monoxide,
diesel soot, tire particles and unburned hydrocarbons and
converting these pollutants into carbon dioxide and water. This
air cleaning capability provides a Minus Emissions Vehicle (MEV).
A special class of MEV is
one that uses hydrogen made from renewable resources. It is called
Renewable Energy Vehicle - Minus Emissions or "REV-ME."
MEV engines using
hydrogen will last much longer and start faster in any weather.
The lubricating oil in a
MEV engine will remain clean for extended periods of time. There
are no sulfur or carbon compounds to degrade the oil.
Hydrogen is the best way
to power future fuel cell electric automobiles or existing
vehicles that have internal combustion engines.
Hydrogen fuel cells
utilize the energy of a reaction between hydrogen and oxygen which
is converted directly and continuously into electrical energy for
electric vehicle propulsion.
Another advantage of fuel
cells is that the device also produces clean, potable water which
is currently used on manned spacecraft and could also be useful in
solving critical drinking water problems wherever potable water
shortages exist.
One pound of hydrogen
when combined with oxygen will make nine pounds of water.
Therefore a hydrogen power plant could make valuable quantities of
high quality water in addition to producing electricity.
The estimated petroleum
reserves in the earth's crust is about one trillion barrels. Oil
consumption is at 25 billion barrels per year and increasing at
1-1/2% per year. At current rates of consumption, measured against
known reserves, there is only a 30 year supply of oil in the
Earth's crust. Even if the reserve estimate were doubled it is a
moral imperative that we take immediate action to develop a
sustainable Solar Hydrogen economy.
Our current energy system
is seriously inadequate in terms of its ability to meet increasing
demand far into the future.
A transition to a
hydrogen energy system will be the most significant, ongoing job
creation opportunity ever conceived for both blue and white collar
workers.
Hydrogen is the safest of
all fuels. Gaseous hydrogen is 14-times lighter than air,
therefore it rapidly disperses into the atmosphere in the event of
an accidental release. This is not true of other fuels. Other
fuels have a much greater "dangerous time" until they are
dispersed from the location of accidental release.
Hydrogen is already used
to produce countless products and to enhance many industrial
processes.
The U.S. produces 100
billion cubic feet per year of hydrogen for industry and for the
space program.
The largest user of
hydrogen is the petroleum industry for converting crude oil into
gasoline and hundreds of chemicals.
No one sustained hydrogen
burns in the 1937 Hindenburg accident. Seven million cubic feet of
hydrogen, equal in volume to a structure three football fields in
size and 49 ft. in height, burned in less than one minute.
However, diesel fuel for the propulsion engines fell to the ground
and continued to burn for many hours.
If liquid hydrogen is
spilled it will very rapidly evaporate, leaving no pollution or
toxic residue.
Hydrogen can be stored at
room temperatures as a hydride (hydrogen chemically combined with
a metallic element) under little or no pressure and in a volume
that is less than if it were a super-cold liquid.
Carbon is a valuable
by-product of separating hydrogen from hydrocarbon compounds. Over
$5.00 worth of carbon products can be extracted from a gallon of
gasoline. The hydrogen left over could be used in cars that clean
the air of pollution caused by those vehicles using hydrocarbon
fuels. In the process; pollution, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons
are transformed into carbon dioxide and water.
Carbon is the most
versatile of all elements. With it we can make materials to
replace wood and steel.
About 74% of our
landfills are hydrocarbons that can be converted into
non-polluting hydrogen fuel and superior building materials.
It is not rational to
burn petrocarbons and deny future generations their right of
access to fossil hydrocarbon reserves to make plastics, synthetic
fabrics, lubricants, solvents, carbon-fiber products that are
stronger than steel and countless other new products that are even
now being developed.
Hydrogen packs more
chemical energy in a pound for pound comparison than with any
other fuel. Two pounds of hydrogen provides as much energy as a
gallon of gasoline. About 2.2 gallons of water will supply enough
hydrogen to replace one gallon of gasoline.
Hydrogen is more fuel
efficient than gasoline or other fossil fuels.
A Solar-Hydrogen powered
heat pump could cool your house in summer and heat it in winter.
In many ways Germany,
Saudi Arabia, Russia, Canada and Japan are already ahead of the
United States in research and development of hydrogen fuel and its
applications. Mercedes and BMW have experimental fleets of
hydrogen-powered automobiles. Japanese automakers are testing
hydrogen-powered cars. The United States lags behind.
Using a small portion of
our total land area, we can manufacture enough Solar-Hydrogen to
supply the entire energy requirement of the United States.
The United States could
make a significant transition to hydrogen fuel by the year 2010.
Solar hydrogen could make
the United States fuel-independent and pollution free for as far
into the future as the sun will shine.
Development of hydrogen
energy systems would protect us from a possible national security
disaster precipitated by a geopolitical upheaval beyond our
control.
Hydrogen could represent
a lucrative cash crop for farmers in areas where there is abundant
wind and/or solar radiation. Many farmers could profit financially
by converting biomass and animal wastes into hydrogen through a
process of bio-remediation (utilizing micro-organisms to break
down unwanted or excess materials).
Using solar thermal
electricity to make hydrogen is 30 times more efficient than the
best green plants' photosynthesis process. Earth's human
population of 5.6 billion cannot wait for another "dinosaur age"
to replenish fossil fuels.
Introducing small amounts
of hydrogen (2%-5%) into internal combustion engines, that are
currently using fossil fuels like gasoline, diesel, or natural
gas, increases the efficiency of combustion, improves mileage and
reduces pollutants to a remarkable degree.
A substantial part of the
expense in building and operating a fossil fuel power plant is
devoted to disposing of heat from wasted energy.
A conventional nuclear or
fossil-fueled central power plant can deliver only about one-third
of the energy in the fuel in the form of electricity. The
remaining energy is wasted by heating the environment. A
hydrogen-fuel plant can deliver 70% or more of the energy as a
combination of "cogenerated" heat and electricity products in a
pollution free application.
Implementation of a
worldwide solar hydrogen energy system will be tantamount to a
Second, Clean Industrial Revolution or the Renewable
Resources Revolution.
Did you know that any of
the following states could eventually be richer than Saudi Arabia
by making and selling Solar-Hydrogen? California, Arizona, Nevada,
Oregon, Utah, Idaho, New Mexico, North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana,
or Texas could provide endless supplies of Solar-Hydrogen for the
U.S. and other countries.
Hydrogen is the simplest,
lightest and most abundant chemical element in the universe.
On our planet hydrogen is
abundant but it is usually combined with other elements. When
combined with oxygen it is called water; when combined with carbon
it is called a hydrocarbon.
Hydrogen is colorless,
odorless, tasteless and non-toxic.
Hydrogen is the only
truly clean chemical fuel.
To make hydrogen
available for use as a fuel, energy is required to separate it
from other elements. solar energy is the most abundant available
source of energy on earth. Solar energy reaches the Earth at a
rate that is 18,000 times the energy consumed by human activities
and is an ideal source for separating hydrogen from other
elements.
Solar hydrogen fuel can
be produced to supply a clean sustainable supply of fuel for
all human energy needs, FOREVER.
Forest lands, decimated
for heating and cooking purposes by people in developing nations,
can be preserved by utilizing hydrogen as fuel.
Many developing nations
are endowed with wind, water or sun power that can be used to make
hydrogen on a small scale for villages and where appropriate on a
large scale for urban areas.
Strip mining coal, that
defaces and environmentally destroys huge areas, could be
eliminated by using Solar Hydrogen.
Vast quanities of
hydrocarbon seepage from tank farms, pipelines and 200,000
gasoline service station tanks that now pollute our soil and
aquifers would be virtually eliminated by a transition to hydrogen
fuel.
Proven technologies are
available to make, store, and use solar hydrogen.
Hydrogen produced by
bioremediation in China is chemically and physically the same as
hydrogen produced by wind power on a Nebraska farm. Hydrogen can
therefore be used as a universal medium of energy exchange.
Pollutants from reliance
on finite fossil fuels and nuclear energy are ultimately carried
by the atmosphere and river systems to the oceans where they
affect phytoplankton (that produce 80% of the earth's oxygen),
flora and fauna of all kinds, particularly those marine species
that comprise the ocean fisheries upon which all populations rely
for a basic food source.
Energy providers could
reduce their costs of operation by a very substantial margin
through elimination of most exploration, drilling, mining,
milling, refining and other cost intensive practices. These firms
could reap even larger profits than they do now by actively
participating in the transition to hydrogen energy systems.
Burning any fossil fuel
creates pollutants that cause millions of people to suffer from
lung, respiratory, and allergic types of illness. Burning hydrogen
will eliminate much suffering and productivity losses and would
substantially reduce health care costs.
If done to optimize
economies of scale, many methods of producing hydrogen will be
cost competitive with fossil fuels or nuclear energy.
Importing crude oil costs
the United States one billion dollars every 5 1/2 days. Using
hydrogen in place of oil could reduce our trade deficiet by 60
billion dollars. Even larger savings are available by eliminating
the large military expenditures required to provide deliveries of
foreign oil to the U.S.
The socially relevant
costs of bringing any fuel to market must also include such
factors as pollution and other short and long-term environmental
costs as well as direct and indirect health costs. When these
factors are taken into consideration, together with its initial
cost competitiveness, hydrogen is surely the most logical choice
for a worldwide energy medium.