Hydrogen Energy | Renewable Energy: Eco20/20

Hydrogen Energy: Renewable Energy

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Hydrogen is the most abundant element on earth. Generally, hydrogen is manufactured through steam reformation of natural gas. Hydrogen is also manufactured from fossil fuels, which we burn quite a bit of them. Hydrogen can be used in many ways.

The most prominent use is to run fuel cells. Fuel cells are cells that produce electricity by using hydrogen as a catalyst. Through chemical processes, fuel cells create electricity. Fuel cell generators are being used to run buildings. Fuel cells are being put into cars. Hydrogen cars are one of the ways that the world can wean itself from fossil fuels.

The future of hydrogen is great if we can find a cheap and clean way to extract hydrogen gas. Fuel cell technology is still growing rapidly. If alternative energy sources can be used to create hydrogen reserves this would be an enormous development in clean energy.

The United States government is at the forefront of the push for hydrogen energy. There are two major initiatives in place, hydrogen fuel initiative and manufacturing initiative. The Hydrogen fuel and manufacturing initiative's goal is to ensure the manufacturing of hydrogen from all energy sources we use.

Coal is the largest producer of energy, hydrogen is a major bi-product. This coincides with the Department of Energy spending 1.2 billion dollars on a hydrogen infrastructure. The goal of the initiatives and government research is to have distribution of hydrogen cost effective by 2020. There are several different governmental departments working on hydrogen and fuel cell development.

The Department of Energy is working on hydrogen and fuel cell research and development. The Department of Commerce is working on measurements, standards and infrastructure technologies to facilitate high-volume manufacturing of hydrogen. Finally the National Science Foundation is working on fundamental research of hydrogen fuel cells and manufacturing.

From an ecological standpoint, hydrogen, at the moment, comes primarily from the burning of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are not clean nor are they renewable. Even though the United States is spending a lot of money on research and development, the fact remains that there are virtually no hydrogen stations for people to fill up. There needs to be major technological advancements to truly make hydrogen feasible. The advancements in fuel cell technology grows by the day. The cheapest mode of car transportation today is fossil fuel gasoline.

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