Globally, countries are seeking alternative energy sources that can accommodate demand and consumption needs while preserving the ecosystem. Hydrogen is among the contenders, but faces issues and challenges as a mainstream fuel.

"The process to extract hydrogen from water -- electrolysis -- is a net-loss equation that consumes more energy than the hydrogen it extracts can generate," explained Pramod Dibble, Frost & Sullivan energy and environmental research analyst. "It is very difficult to store hydrogen, as it leaks out from almost any containment vessel. Although compressed hydrogen leaks much less than at atmospheric pressure, the act of compression requires about two percent of the useable energy in the hydrogen, which is already less by volume than fossil fuel sources."

The low energy conversion efficiency also weakens the case for hydrogen as a commercial fuel. Hydrogen requires one too many conversions to be as efficient as electricity (water to hydrogen to electricity), as opposed to a simple fuel to electricity conversion, according to Dibble.

 

As battery technologies improve in quality and decrease in price, the viability of hydrogen as an energy carrier further falls. It would be both easier and cheaper to store energy as electricity in a battery than hydrogen in a compressed tank, Dibble contends.

"All these reasons together constrain the use of hydrogen to niche applications such as a liquid in rocket fuel," said Dibble. "Unless there is a dramatic scientific breakthrough, hydrogen will remain an ill-suited alternative energy source in the 21st century."

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