Hydrogen Fuel Cell For Transportation

Essay 2: Alternative and Renewable Energy Options for Transportation

The human race is currently in conflict between two imperatives. First, the desire for each individual to meet his/her ultimate end and obtain a rewarding life, and second, staying within the capacity of means that the planet provides us in order to reach that end. The global resources are being depleted and consumed faster than they can be produced or renewed. If the demand of the human race continues to exceed what nature can supply, our planet will eventually be "used up" and go into ecological overshoot. The loss of these resources is a threat to our existence, especially when we become dependent on non-renewable resources. Modern transportation is one of the major causes of the depletion of our resources, as it is responsible for over 64% of the oil consumption in the United States. With the population exponentially increasing and the lifestyle demand for cars increasing along with it, the consumption of oil will soon surpass the earth's limited supply of it. This situation is not without hope though. We must learn as a planet how to live within our ecological limits, and meet our lifestyle demands through means rather than eating away at our natural capital, our "resources". Technology has opened doors of exploration into new alternative fuel options to replace oil in the transportation industry. Among these new options under research is the use of Hydrogen fuel cells. These Hydrogen vehicles can be powered by fuel cells and produce no air pollutants and emit much fewer greenhouse gases. It is a possibility of using an abundant renewable resource with much less harm to the planets atmosphere. In this essay, I will look further into the actual process of using hydrogen fuel cells for vehicles, the environmental impacts it would have, and what may be keeping this alternative from being implemented today.

Hydrogen is the most abundant element on the planet. It is an energy carrier though, not an energy source by itself. Hydrogen has the property and ability to store usable energy, but it does not exist in nature by itself. Although it is the most abundant element on earth, hydrogen is usually combined with other elements and is almost always a part of another substance, such as water or alcohols. It has to be produced from other resources that contain it. These resources include fossil fuels, such as natural gas and coal and other renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, and hydro-electric power. There are a wide range of technologies under research right now that can produce hydrogen economically and in environmentally friendly ways. This is also allowing for researchers to work towards developing advanced hydrogen and fuel cell technologies to reduce our nation's dependence on foreign oil. The ability of fuel cells to sustainably produce electricity from hydrogen is what makes this alternative option for transportation fuel so appealing.

In theory, a fuel cell operates similar to a battery. Batteries eventually run out of energy without recharging, but a fuel cell does not run out or require recharging. As long as the fuel is supplied, the cell will produce energy in the form of electricity and heat for ever. In this case, hydrogen is the "fuel" that the cell uses to produce electricity. Unlike usual car engines, fuel cells do not burn fuel and run on combustion, but rather use basic chemistry and therefore have fewer efficiency losses and lower emissions.

There are many advantages to the Hydrogen fuel cell technology, but also some key concerns that must be looked at and researched further. Within the last 150 years, atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases has increased. Specifically, carbon dioxide has increased over 30%. This increase will eventually lead to our planet undergoing the "greenhouse effect", known as global warming. The combustion of fossil fuels by vehicles and other sources is responsible for most of these harmful emissions. Using hydrogen fuel cells to power vehicles offers the obvious advantage of no emissions, but this advantage only pertains to the vehicle. There are emissions at the hydrogen production source, however emissions created at a controlled point of production are often easier to manage and maintain than those produced by many moving vehicles. A fuel cell vehicle that runs only on pure hydrogen produces nothing but water vapor. Even though fuel cells can be fueled by many other sources, using any other fuel other than Hydrogen would produce a small amount of carbon dioxide and other low emissions.

Not only do fuel cells provide a healthier solution for our atmosphere, they also have much higher energy efficiency than that of a normal combustion-based technology. The Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy branch of the U.S. department of energy states:

"A conventional combustion-based power plant typically generates electricity at efficiencies of 33 to 35 percent, while fuel cell plants can generate electricity at efficiencies of up to 60 percent. Internal-combustion engines in today's automobiles convert less than 30 percent of the energy in gasoline into power that moves the vehicle. Vehicles using electric motors powered by hydrogen fuel cells are much more energy efficient, utilizing 40-60 percent of the fuel's energy. "

Two of the problems that arise with the idea of large scale use of Hydrogen fuel cells for vehicles are in its mass production and storage. Most of the hydrogen production today is produced from steam reformation of natural gas. This, however, releases carbon dioxide in the process and trades one relatively clean fuel for another. In order to make Hydrogen usable in fuel cells