The Allure Of A Hydrogen Economy Continues To Dazzle Some Researchers
The idea that the world could run on clean hydrogen fuel is alluring. And why not? A hydrogen fuel cell has no waste products other than heat and water vapor. Why, a person could hold a cup under the tailpipe of a fuel cell powered vehicle and drink what comes out. No carbon or particulate emissions, no oxides of nitrogen — what’s not to love?
Actually, most CleanTechnica readers are well aware of the downside. There are two principal ways of making pure hydrogen. You can start with natural gas — which in America comes primarily from fracking — or you can pass an electric current through water to break it into its component parts. The first involves massive pollution of the environment. The other involves massive amounts of electricity.
Hydrogen is the most reactive element in the periodic table. It bonds like crazy with just about every other element and can only be tamed by storing it under very high pressure — up to 900 psi. Unlike battery packs which are mostly flat and rectangular, hydrogen tanks have to be cylindrical in order to withstand such ultra-high pressures. Regardless of what they are made of, cylindrical tanks do not fit conveniently with the footprint of a typical automobile chassis.
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