Everyone seems to be getting very hyped up about the supposed hydrogen revolution that is just around the corner. Fuel Cell powered cars, we are promised, will be 100% with only water as a waste product. We are told fuel cells are going to power everything from cars to laptops. Does anyone else see problems with this proposal? Firstly, hydrogen is an incredibly volatile gas, so filling up cars etc. with it will be far more dangerous than filling them with petrol. Also, if a car full of hydrogen gas crashes and it ruptured the storage tank, the whole thing will explode at the first sign of a spark.Second, hydrogen does not occur in vast quanities naturally, so we have to produce it. This requires energy, and surely this energy is just going to come from burning more fossil fuels in power stations. And if it doesnt, if we set up a renewable energy infrastructure, why do we even need hydrogen? everything (including vehicles etc.) could just be plugged into a mains outlet
Fuel cells do not make sense for automobiles as you concluded. The energy required to produce the hydrogen takes more oil than would be used if you drove a gasoline driven car. If you have a byproduct hydrogen source that is not being used, then the economics for producing electricity from fuel cells might work. I say might, because you have to add the cost of the fuel cell, the pre-treatment necessary to make the hydrogen suitable for fuel cells, and the other capital equipment to convert the DC current from fuel cells into useable AC power The capital mentioned is in competition with conventional steam boilers where you can burn the hydrogen for heat. In many applications the hydrogen can be used with conventional gas fed boilers. And finally, hydrogen has a chemical value assocated with it. That is hydrogen is used as a chemical to make other higher value chemicals. If the market is available, the chemical value for hydrogen will always be better than burning it.
Danger? Gasoline is dangerous and explosive too. Production? Yes, that is a problem. But plugging cars into the mains does not work because they have to move and the mains plug is in a fixed location. The fuel cell should be thought of as a battery, not as a power source. It can be recharged like a battery and it can hold more energy than other kinds of batteries. In fact, before they were called fuel cells, they were called gas batteries.
Hydrogen is volatile but so is gasoline. The whole thing will explode at the first sign of a spark is a Hollywood thing. It's not hard to engineer a tank that won't explode. Hydrogen is abundant in everything and this is an limitless resource. Energy is abundant if we can tap the power of the sun. Hydrogen is a FUEL. As a FUEL, the gas/oil companies can keep their employees, gas stations, tanker trucks, supertankers, refineries, and make money with what they got instead of letting the electrical power industry make the money. The car industry has been working with the oil companies building cars for nearly 100 years. The car industry has been working with the electrical companies building cars for less than 5 years. No surprise, car industry picks oil industry's vision of the future. If producing hydrogen requires burning of fossil fules, the oil companies don't see why that is a problem. Yes, the fuel cell economy is touted by car companies with the backing of oil companies. Oil companies are afraid of the future so they do everything in their power to stop this from happening. The electrical car powered by the power industry will doom the car-oil alliance once and for all should it ever come to mass market.
