Hydrogen uses, world-wide, locally, and inside our homes...?

Question

1. How can we use hydrogen world-wide as an energy source?

2. How can we use hydrogen locally (in Sacramento area) as an energy source?

3. How can we use hydrogen to make our homes more energy efficient?

Answer 1

Don't think of hydrogen as an energy source - think of it as an energy transfer mechanism.  We can make hydrogen from water by electrolysis or from methane (natural gas), but it takes energy to make hydrogen.  If you use a low carbon footprint (nuclear, solar, wind, hydro electric) power source to make hydrogen, then when you burn it either in a combustion engine or a fuel cell (latter is more efficient at recovering the energy)  then the byproduct is water - (a combustion engine can produce other noxious gases even though the fuel is hydrogen because it uses air  - a mixture of several gases including oxygen...)  Hydrogen by itself is not an easy gas to work with - it is a very small molecule, so what would be gas tight to natural gas, might leak like a sieve to hydrogen.  It also is subject to an odd phenomena called the Joule-Thompson Effect - it actually heats up when expanding rather than cooling as most gases do - not exactly a great idea if you are expanding it into an oxygen rich atmosphere like your house when you are not expecting to; plus it burns with a flame that is well into ultraviolet - so it looks clear to your eyes, but is incredibly hot...  I am reasonably OK with using it in cars via fuel cells - provided the storage technology is reasonably crashproof - but electricity wins the day for most household applications...

Answer 2

The fundamental problem with hydrogen is that you've probably got to use elecricty (from coal, or nuclear in the US) to make it so its going to be less efficient than using the coal locally....

Answer 3

1) A recent article on how the world is already changing, and oil companies will soon become a thing of the past ;)

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/artic...

Sorry not sure how to answer your 2nd and 3rd question...

Answer 4

The use of H2 for energy anywhere has a lot of problems to overcome. It requires a lot of energy to make which causes pollution unless power comes from Nuclear, Solar, etc. It is very dangerous to handle in the gaseous form. We use this gas in many industrial processes, but it requires very stringent safety design and handling specifications. It is like handeling an explosive, and not very suitable for vehicles unless transferred into solid fuel cells. I'm not sure about fuel cel safety because I have not had experience with them.

Endorphi - We have been making H2 from sea water for many many years. This is not new technology. I operated O2 generators in the 70's on ships/submarines which broke down sea water into H2 and O2.