Every time you pumpgasolineinto your car , you ’re ever so slightly depleting the populace ’s supplying offossil fuels . These fuels , which includepetroleumandcoal , are the contract remains of be organism from prehistoric times . The supply of these fuels is modified and will eventually tend out . bad , much of this supply of petroleum is controlled by a few nation blessed with an copiousness of oil colour and these nations can dictate both the oil supplying and its price . what is more , dependence on fossil fuels by a Carry Amelia Moore Nation like the United States further complicates already complex issue of foreign relations and internal certificate . Fossil fuel have met much of the Earth ’s energy needs for several centuries , but there is a demarcation line to how long they can proceed to do so in the future tense .
The universe we exist in is made up of approximately 75 percent atomic number 1 , though there ’s surprisingly small pure H here on the control surface of the Earth . Hydrogen gasoline generally exists as H2molecules , in which two H particle are rebound together . Because H2molecules are so light , uncontained hydrogen gas can easily be adrift to the top of the Earth ’s atmosphere and can really get away into outer space . Most of the atomic number 1 at priming coat level is limit up in molecular form with other elements – in water , for instance , where H is combine with atomic number 8 to form H2O molecules .
There are several methods that can be used to produce pure H from atomic number 1 - containing molecules . Hydrogen can be take out fromnatural gas(by far the most common method acting ) , it can be removed from pee through electrolysis or it can be produced biologically from algae or certain form of bacterium . Some of the more promising methods of atomic number 1 production are still being researched , while others , such as origin from natural gas , are in vulgar use .
In 1970 the chemist John Bockris mint the termhydrogen economyto refer to a future in which all vehicle would usehydrogenas a fuel . An important stone’s throw in this direction has been the development of a equipment called afuel cellphone , which generates electrical energy using hydrogen . Major railway car manufacturers have already produced concept motorcar powered by fuel mobile phone , the Volkswagen Tiguan HyMotion and the Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell SUV are two examples , and at least one H fuel cellphone production model is already available in California , the Honda FCX Clarity .
No more pollution?
One of the most important benefits of a hydrogen economy is that fuel cubicle are nonpolluting . Nocarbon emissionsare produced when electricity is generated in a fuel cell . A atomic number 1 fuel mobile phone produces two byproducts – heat and weewee . If every vehicle on the route were powered by a hydrogen fuel cell , the familiar clouds ofsmogthat fall over many U.S. cities , most of which comes from vehicle exhaust , would largely evaporate . According to the Environmental Protection Agency , one-half of all Americans live in areas where there ’s enough pollution to produce a negative effect on human health , so reducing smogginess would be a important benefit .
Internal combustionengines , which burn fuels derived from the elementcarbon , farm several byproducts , primarilycarbon dioxide , water , and the tiny particles of matter that we refer to assoot . The carbon black , when ejected into air breathe by humans , can cause asthma , lung cancer , and other diseases . In plus , most scientist think that increased amounts of C dioxide in the atmosphere impart toglobal warming , which could eventually have damaging climatical changes over much of our planet .
Converting from intragroup combustion locomotive to nonpolluting fuel sources such as hydrogen will be significant for reducing these problems in the 21stcentury . But with more than 130 million gasoline - power vehicle on the road today , it ’s unbelievable that fuel cell cable car will make enough of a deviation in the near future to produce significant environmental improvements . It ’s estimated that early fuel cell car will cost at least $ 100,000 , which will put them out of the reach of the average driver . Another point to make is that the infrastructure needed to make these cars hard-nosed , including atomic number 1 production works and refueling place , is not yet uncommitted . Some observer believe that , in the short terminal figure , environmental change will come through the combined usage of atomic number 1 cars and other types of vehicles , including barrage fire - poweredelectric carsand cars that use other alternative frame of fuel .
Existingatmospheric pollutionisn’t going to go away before long . Soot settles out of the atmosphere in a matter of week or months , but carbon copy dioxide stay for a substantially longer prison term . Even if all sources of carbon emissions were wipe out today , it could still take decades for atmospheric carbon paper levels to return to normal . moreover , auto are only one source of carbon emission . Others , such as coal - cut power plants , would also have to be greatly curtailed in edict to prevent global warming .
No more foreign oil dependency?
More than one-half of theoilused in the United States is imported from other country . This has a significant impingement on the economy of the U.S. Two - tierce of this import crude is used fortransportation . Because so much oil comes from outside of the United States , changes inpricesand supply are largely out of our control . Much of the oil comes from politically fluid regions in the Middle East . Attempts to free the U.S. from dependance on Middle Eastern oil date back to the 1970s ; however , the amount of oil imported has actually increased since then . In addition , worry over U.S. oil habituation has grown even greater undermentioned theterroristevents ofSeptember 11 , 2001 .
Another problem with our dependency on oil is that rise oil price have an force on the entire U.S. economic system , increasing the price of almost any Cartesian product that uses oil in its manufacture or that command vegetable oil to get hold of the marketplace . Oil monetary value have risen sharply in recent years , with the Mary Leontyne Price ofgasolineand diesel fuel hovering in the $ 4 to $ 5 per gallon cooking stove throughout 2008 .
Will hydrogen be crummy than gasoline ? The U.S. Department of Energy forecast that current genesis fuel cells produce electricity at a price of approximately $ 225 per kilowatt . Unfortunately , prices will require to drip to about $ 30 per kW before atomic number 1 is competitive with gas as a fuel ; however , the National Research Council call that the cost of the hydrogen itself , assess on a per mile basis , could soon be as much as 50 percent low than the current cost of gasoline . Obviously , this reward will continue to increase steadily as the terms of gas belong up . The efficiency with which hydrogen is converted to electricity also give it a substantial vantage .
Can atomic number 1 vehicle help die our oil addiction ? Hydrogen vehicles will assist abridge this dependence , but it will likely be decades before enough H vehicles are in quotidian use to make a important difference on oil import . In the farseeing streak , however , the shock of H cars could be considerable .
H railway car are n’t just the automobile of the future – severalfuel jail cell vehicles(or FCVs ) are on the road the right way now :
Is the hydrogen economy sustainable?
If thehydrogen economyis go to provide the United States with a future spare ofpollutionand dependence on foreign fossil oil , it must be sustainable . That is , it must be capable to keep up with increased population growth , increased use of energy - athirst applied science , changes in political science and change in people ’s attitudes toward the environment and toward the eudaemonia of future multiplication . It has been estimate that worldwide energy needs will double by the year 2050 . It ’s improbable that the rapidly diminishing supplies of fossil fuel could keep up with this demand , so young vim resources will be crucial .
One of the master obstacles to a sustainable atomic number 1 economic system is that the methods currently used to press out H from larger molecule rely on electrical energy – and that electricity is generated for the most part by methods that create contamination . If atomic number 1 extraction is performed using electrical energy from a ember - driven powerfulness works , it does n’t weigh that the fuel jail cell does n’t pollute because the befoulment fall out when the atomic number 1 was extract . If H is to be a true nonpolluting power source , the electrical energy used to extract the hydrogen will need to be produced by a nonpolluting method such assolar power . At present this usually is n’t the case , so a in truth sustainable hydrogen thriftiness will require substantial changes in power generation .
reposition is also a problem . H fuel is salt away in compact liquified signifier and over sentence some of it escapes through desiccation . If a hydrogen car is n’t driven on a regular fundament , the evaporation red ink will substantially increase the overall expense of the fuel . And compress liquid hydrogen to a volume that can be carry in a car also requires a great spate of energy , and that vim may have been bring forth using methods that cause pollution .
Some experts conceive that improvements in atomic number 1 production and warehousing will top to a sustainable hydrogen economy in 15 to 30 years . However , the estimate of a atomic number 1 economy has its opponents , many of whom believe that such an economy can never be sustainable and that our resources would be better used explore other forms of power generation . It may be years before it becomes clear whether atomic number 1 is sincerely the fuel of the future .
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