Not enough corn for ethanol! What is the problem with hydrogen fueled cars?

Question

For this question, assume that all gas powered cars were current technology hydrogen fueled cars and all gas stations were hydrogen fueling stations. Would this solve our problems? What is up side and down side compared to what we have today.

Answer 1

The biggest downside is that everyone will be driving bombs.  Hydrogen is highly flammable and in an accident, there would be a greater chance of explosion which would cost more lives.  Also, it will take a lot of energy to create the hydrogen that we would use.

Answer 2

The proposition does not identify where the hydrogen is coming from. Are you talking about having a nuclear generating station on every block?

Now we do have an ability to take hydrogen from hydrocarbons, leaving the question of what happens to the carbon from the hydrocarbon?

Yes, we can produce hydrogen from wind power, but the proposal does not tell us how much more electrical generation we will need.

We can improve the efficiency of use of natural gas by stripping the hydrogen from the methane, but we have to get the methane from the arctic.

So the problem to be solved is where will the hydrogen come from, and what would we need to do to get it.

Answer 3

Corn is the worst POSSIBLE means of making ethanol. Ethanol from switchgrass is even economical NOW. And that economy will only increase with mass production. Stop dreaming about hydrogen. Ethanol can be used in fuel cells too, and it's MUCH easier to store.

edit -  Brazil uses SUGAR CANE. Switchgrass is NATIVE to North America. It's what the buffalo used to eat!

Answer 4

Pretty simple ...Hydrogen extraction takes more energy to produce then the hydrogen itself produces.  According to the International Agency of Energy (EIA), currently 98% of hydrogen is produced from hydrocarbons, with the production cost approximately 5 times the cost of the hydrocarbons used to produce hydrogen; (http://www.youthxchange.net/main/b206_hy...

Answer 5

Work is being done to make H cars - only time will tell which of the alternatives is going to be the best bet for the future... but Hydrogen can be taken from water and that does have some advantages over ethanol... type in Ford Hydrogen Car into Google Images and see the cool green and black hot rod they are testing on the Salt Flats in Nevada... caption: "Ford makes 200mph history with a hydrogen fuel-cell car"...

Answer 6

Yup, hydrogen is just an energy carrier.

There are serious problems with Biofuels;

http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/

Biofuels were never going to fill the whole gap anyway, just prop the economy up for a bit. The big problem - Peak Oil.

Answer 7

If the infrastructure was already there then hydrogen cars would be the way to go. However, there lies the problem. The infrastructure is not there. Even more importantly the technology is not there. There are many technologies that are currently better than hydrogen. The sad truth is that it is not an easy thing to produce hydrogen. it takes a lot of energy and resources so, you really have to use more to produce less. In order for hydrogen to win a new non existing technology would have to be created. A new infrastructure will have to be created and more importantly implemented. Also, the competing technology have to fail and not improve while the hydrogen miracle cure exist.

Hydrogen looses because it is just in the ideal stage. Every time you ask how much longer before we have it they will tell you 10 to 15 years. Problem is that every 10 to 15 years you ask them and they will tell you they need another 10 to 15 years. All the other technologies are proven and can be readily used. They can also be improved on. I think that by the time hydrogen as a fuel has been figured out many other technologies would have already been running for years. Problem is we can't be waiting for something that may or may not happen when we have many other realistic solutions in our hands. I mean it should still be worked on as a possible alternative but we should not wait around for if the day comes. If the day do comes then great. If it doesn't then we should already have something else working. Also, what if someone comes up with yet a new alternative that we haven't even though of as of yet?

I think the real viable solution at the moment are grease cars hybrids. These are cars that run on literally grease. that is filtered greased like the left over fat from restaurants. I have a friend that does this. He has a diesel with a grease kit. It runs great. What he does is he starts the car on diesel and then switches to the grease after it has gotten hot enough. He gets about 40 miles or gallon. The advantage of the diesel is that the engines already exist. Is a proven technology. What we need is a way to implement this system. Now combine the grease car with a hybrid battery engine and now our have a car that can do more than 100 miles a gallon very cheap. An alternative is all electric car. Problem with bateries is the cold weather and the range but as battery improve this may be a vaible option. Again, these technologies already exists and are a viable option for a lot of people. Not all but a lot plus it can be improved on. Hydrogen technology only have a few protoype cars. The technolgy is too far away. Why wait?

Answer 8

too hard to get hydrogen gas (cost).

Answer 9

When we eventually run out of oil, hydrogen may be the most economic alternative.  But we are talking about 100 to 200 years from now.  Yes, we can not make enough corn for ethanol to make a difference, and no, switchgrass will not grow in the US like it does in Brazil.

Answer 10

Oil should be the prime fuel as the plants and the earth has recycled it that way for millions of years. Yes it produces CO2 but that is part of the recycle plan.

    Hydrogen is a very dangerous gas and will explode . The atom is so small it will leak through most things.

Answer 11

First of all Hydrogen is a very volatile fuel source and using our present day gas stations as a fueling point is luticrous at most. They aren't anyway set up and it will be awhile before it gets to that. Hydrogen can come from our on water sources eventually. You know H2 o  Hydrogen/Oxygen, water is 2 parts Hydrogen.

     You're right about the corn squeezings Ethanol. There's just not enought of it and also they're having a problem with the additive that keeps it from evaporating. They can't produce enough of it for the demand. That's why fuel prices will be going to $3.50 or more per gallon this spring.

     Oil supplies are drying up and eventually the world will have vehicles that will end up in the scrap heap, because there won't be enough fuel to power all of them. It's back to the horse and buggie days I guess.  The oil companies at this point don't care about alternatives to fuel. They are busy just lining their pockets. It'll only last so long though and their vast richness will plummit when the oil runs out.