There seem to be a lot of misconceptions about the idea of hydrogen power. I’ve heard from a lot of people who think about hydrogen bombs and the Hindenburg when they think about hydrogen fuels. They think that if we use hydrogen as a power source we’re flirting with disaster. I’d like to clear up a few of these misconceptions.
First off, hydrogen bombs and hydrogen fuel are entirely different animals. A hydrogen bomb is a fusion bomb. Hydrogen itself, however, is not radioactive. If it were, drinking a glass of water would kill you. The hydrogen in an atomic weapon has undergone a lot of transformation that just wouldn’t happen in a hydrogen vehicle.
As for the Hindenburg, recent studies have shown that the explosion of that airship had more to do with the ‘dope’ used to paint the outer skin than with the hydrogen within. This doping compound used to paint the Hindenburg actually contained many of the components found in rocket fuel, and was the source of the original fire that subsequently ignited the hydrogen. This is not to say that hydrogen isn’t combustible. Any fuel that can be used to produce energy is combustible, or it wouldn’t produce energy in the first place. The gasoline and the diesel fuel most vehicles burn today are combustible as well. The difference is that we are familiar with the hazards associated with gasoline and diesel engines, so they don’t seem quite so scary. While there are inherent risks in handling any combustible material, I believe that hydrogen is far safer overall than the fuels we use today.
To start with, hydrogen is a much cleaner fuel than petroleum-based fossil fuels. When hydrogen burns, the by-product is water. That’s all. No greenhouse gases, no heavy metals, no pollutants. In addition, hydrogen is lighter than air. In any accident in which a hydrogen fuel tank is pierced, the combustible hydrogen floats up into the atmosphere and away from the vehicle. With petroleum fuels, in case of a leak the fuel falls to the pavement below the vehicle where it can be easily ignited.
Finally, hydrogen is the most abundant element in the Universe. There is not likely to ever be a shortage of hydrogen, as when it burns it creates water as a by-product, and this water can be used to obtain more hydrogen. Our planet is two-thirds water, and hydrogen is one of the components of water. At the present time splitting hydrogen from water isn’t the most efficient method of obtaining it, but as technology progresses that could change.
Hydrogen is a clean, abundant source of fuel, but there are drawbacks to a hydrogen economy as well. One drawback is the storage medium. Hydrogen is a gas, not a liquid like gasoline. In order to store enough hydrogen to give a car a 300-mile range, it would have to be stored in a tank at about 1500 psi of pressure. Another drawback is that the cheapest way to extract hydrogen at the present time is to get it from natural gas. Natural gas is not a renewable resource, so in that instance we’re just trading one problem for another. There are promising solutions on the horizon, however. One method that has potential is to use bacteria to extract hydrogen from methane. Another is to store hydrogen in a chemical compound so that it is a solid rather than a gas.
Any old farmer could tell you that you should never put all your eggs in one basket. That’s where we are right now in our dependence on fossil fuels. Hydrogen probably won’t be the only ‘egg’ in our future basket of fuels, but it could be one of many if we can work out a few of the technical challenges. Time will tell.
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