The Potential Of Hydrogen Based Energy
This article illustrates the potential of hydrogen based energy systems. We want to show you that if the world chooses to follow the hydrogen road then all the basic technology is available now, we are not waiting for research breakthroughs.
The cost of changing to a hydrogen-powered world will not be excessive, especially if the external costs of pollution and ill health associated with fossil fuels are taken into account as credits towards the cost of using hydrogen as a clean fuel with no external costs. Only when hydrogen enters a market at small volumes is there going to be a cost problem and we will just have to find ways around these temporary obstacles.
The following sections will show you how to calculate the cost of changing to hydrogen. See for yourself, if you think our input figures are wrong then you can substitute your own and see if a hydrogen powered world is feasible. We would be very pleased to have some feedback on this because it is difficult to get well documented information on costs.
If global warming is partly or wholly due to atmospheric CO2 produced by the use of fossil fuels, then the hydrogen energy system described here is one way of producing more energy for the world without adding more CO2 to the atmosphere that would make global warming worse.
Global warming will have adverse effects on climate and will lead to rising sea levels flooding towns, cities and farmland.
We cannot realistically expect to reduce the total world use of energy because only a quarter of the world’s population are using approximately three quarters of the world’s current energy production. This a quarter of the world’s population are unlikely to make the reductions in use required to accommodate increases in energy use by the three quarters of the world’s population currently needing more energy supplies.
Some people advocate cutting back the consumption of resources and energy generally as the way to a sustainable future. But the dynamics (i.e. increasingly capitalist ) and realities of the world’s population and economies are such that a peaceful global reduction in consumption is not possible. What is needed is environmentally sustainable growth of world production to meet human needs. This will require an increasing supply of clean pollution-free energy and the recycling of the Earth’s material resources which will also involve using more energy.
A hydrogen based system offers totally clean energy supplies with no pollution. The system is based on renewable sources of electricity and uses hydrogen as an energy carrier/fuel that is able to replace all existing uses of fossil fuels. The hydrogen energy system could meet all the world’s energy needs forever.
It is more likely that the argument over what to do about global warming is going to be won by people who say what can be done and not by people who say what cannot be done. The hydrogen energy system offers a way out of our energy supply impasse.
The hydrogen energy system is a simple concept, it is based on current technology and would not be particularly expensive. Water, which comes from the atmosphere as rain, is converted into hydrogen and oxygen by electrolysis using clean renewable electricity. The hydrogen, which is an energy carrier and fuel, is then transported to where energy is needed and at the point of use the hydrogen combines with atmospheric oxygen to form water which returns to the atmosphere as water vapour. The exchange of water and oxygen via the atmosphere is always in balance and there is no pollution.
James Nash
http://www.articlesbase.com/environment-articles/the-potential-of-hydrogen-based-energy-579659.html
Posted in clean energy
paper questions. is it good?
Count how many electronic devices you own. Now count how many of those you use on a daily bases. Now think about where all of the power to run those items comes from. As simple as it is, many Americans never think about where the power to run their personal gadgets, there only worry is about how big the bill is going to be at the end of the month. The truth is, Americans are the ones who need to think about energy consumption the most, because America uses far more energy per capita than any other nation in the world. This is because we have more money to burn, and we are completely energy dependent. If we want out world to continue to thrive, we as Americans are going to have to start using less energy as a whole and building more ways to reduce dependencies on oil and other unrenewable, dirty resources. The purpose of this paper is to inform the public about the salvations and pitfalls of different sources of renewable energy and the dangerous we will face if we don’t switch to it.
•Wind
Wind is great renewable resource; in this section of my paper I will outline the pros and cons of wind energy.
Wind is energy is completely clean, inexpensive to build, and produces a reasonable power output. However, wind energy can only work efficiently in areas where there is a more or less constant wind. Wind energy works the best in places like California where there is mountain ranges where valleys get constant wind blowing through them. Wind energy does work in Iowa though, mostly you will see wind farms on hills, but if you’ve ever seen an old farm it is most likely that they had wind energy! Wind energy is very old; it in the 18th century to pump water.
•Solar
Solar energy is one of my favorite sources of energy. It can be mounted on a roof to create clean power all through the day. Solar energy has several dehabilitating pitfalls though. Solar energy creates enough power to easily run a home, but it creates most of the energy when the occupants aren’t actually home. So a solar panel will run your appliances such as your fridge for free, but in the evening when you get home, turn on all the lights, and the sun is down, solar panels aren’t going to do you any good. So in order to combat this problem, solar panels would have to have batteries, this is completely possible, but unfortunately the batteries would have to be quite big, and very costly to replace once they stopped holding a charge. Solar energy would be great for the Midwest and other less populated areas but in order for solar energy to power places like New York City, you’re going to have to convince Montana to give up half their land for sole solar panel use for the “greater good”.
•Water Power and hydrogen power.
Water power is another very old renewable resource; it was use thousands of years ago to turn big wheels that were dipped in rivers to grind things up. Water power today is more tuned towards dams; dams make good energy, but they harm the environment more than any other renewable resource. Building dams causes the area in front of the dam to flood, resulting in loss of habitat for many an animal. Hydrogen power would be absolutely awesome if we had a source of pure hydrogen closer than the sun to harvest from. The only practical use for hydrogen energy is to use excess energy from solar panels to transform water into hydrogen; this may be a substitute for batteries for solar panels.
•Nuclear energy
In my mind this is the energy that has the potential to save humanity. Nuclear energy puts out tremendous amounts of power and has only a little waste. The main problem with nuclear energy is idiots who are terrified of being saved by it because it might “blow up”. Other problems include: the storage of the small amount of byproduct, eventually we will run out of Uranium (not a pressing problem), and nuclear plants take a long time to build even if they were to pushed through to build immediately, which never happens. German is currently 80% dependent on Nuclear energy and I think we need to follow their lead.
In conclusion, we as people have a responsibility to protect the world and to protect ourselves. In order to accomplish this we need to move forward and invest heavily in completely renewable resources, and stop popping out kids. As previously stated, I believe nuclear power will be our salvation, but we need to invest in all renewable resources; wind energy for California, solar for the Midwest, hydro for places with large rivers, and nuclear for the New Yorkers.
Generally speaking, when writing a formal essay or research paper, you want to avoid phrases like "I think," and "In my opinion." State your facts as facts and leave out anything that isn’t a fact. Unless you’ve been specifically instructed to share your personal opinion about your topic, then you shouldn’t express it in a paper.
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