How do you build a hydrogen collector & a system to create enegry to supply homes & office build. with elect.?

Question

How do you build a hydrogen collector & a system to create enegry to supply homes & office build. with elect.?

Answer 1

Collect from where? The problem with hydrogen is that you cannot find it as molecular H2, it is always combined with other atoms: with oxygen to give water, with carbon to give various hydrocarbons from methane to heavy oils, with nitrogen to form ammonia, and so on.

If you want to use hydrogen as a fuel, it needs to be separated from the other stuff, although one can use hydrocarbon directly (petroleum and natural gas). To extract hydrogen from water, one needs more energy to electrolyze water than one would get back from using said hydrogen.

Answer 2

H2 has the highest energy per pound, but gases move by volume and H2 has the lowest energy per volume, there for it is 10 times more expensive to move it than natural gas by pipeline. In other words, we consume about 10% of the natural gases energy to move it from the Gulf Coast to New York.  If we put the same amount of H2 energywise into the same pipeline, none of it would reach New York.

To top it off, metalurgy must be watched, Hydrogen impingment into steel can cause the lines to fail.

Answer 3

One method might be to electrolyze water using power from wind and solar input. The hydrogen and oxygen could then be recombined in a fuel cell as the need arises.

Alternatively, you can split hydrogen from organic sources such as hydrocarbons or methanol using a reformer.

As others have pointed out, electrolysis is much less efficient than using the energy input directly - except for one thing. Solar and wind input are sporadic. If you wish to avoid batteries in the system, then electrolysis represents a means by which the sporadic energy can be concentrated to a form where it can be extracted on demand. Batteries, of course, allow that as well, but that's not what you were asking.

Answer 4

Where are you getting the hydrogen from?

I hope not from electrolysis! Because it takes many time more electricity to electrolyze the water then you gain by combusting the products.

In other words, using the electricity directly is much more efficient.

The old HHO scam revisted.