What are some problems with using hydrogen gas as a fuel?

Question

What are some problems with using hydrogen gas as a fuel?

Answer 1

there are no problems with using hydrogen gas as fuel it is just that people are afraid to change the status quo. Hydrogen gas can be (not just theoretically) taken from water by electrollisis, if you use solar, wind or hydroelectric power to do so it is clean. It can be compressed and stored, transported etc. just like natual gas.

Answer 2

It's expensive

There is no distribution system

Answer 3

For further information check out the US Dept of Energy Hydrogen Infrastructure and CO2 Sequestration Project website.

Answer 4

cost alot

Answer 5

The first guy said it all. It still takes natural gas to make hydrogen gas, and we'll need the natural gas for it's best use, home heating. When the begin to make auto fuel out of it natrual gas for home heating will become to expensive for many to afford and start a whole new problem.

Answer 6

Hydrogen has to come from somewhere.  Currently the main place we get hydrogen from is natural gas, and the process emits as much CO2 as burning the natural gas directly, so there's no benefit.  Theoretically you can get hydrogen from water via electrolysis; however, electrolysis is currently an extremely inefficient process, and you have to put in a lot more energy than you can get out by burning the hydrogen as fuel, so there's no point.

So the first problem with hydrogen cars is that we don't have a good source of hydrogen fuel.  The second problem is that even if we did have a good fuel source, we don't have any transportation or storage infrastructure set up.  There are no hydrogen refueling stations, and to build such infrastructure would cost billions of dollars.

On top of all that, there's already an alternative fuel with the infrastructure in-place and the technology advancing rapidly - electric cars.  

Because of all those reasons, it will at least be a few decades before hydrogen cars are a viable technology.

Answer 7

The biggest problem associated with using hydrogen gas is that it is expensive to produce the cars and the gas stations that will supply the cars.

You can read about the advantages and disadvantages of hydrogen cars here:

http://www.greenstudentu.com/Hydrogen.as...