Hydrogen
Cars Might Be The Solution For The Futureenergy
tips
Gasoline comes from a natural resource that might be renewable, but not
during our lifetimes. With this in mind and the ever increasing cost
for oil added into the mix, the need for alternative fuel sources is
quite evident to many.
There are other options out there, but not all are being
as aggressively explored as they perhaps should be. The hydrogen
car, however, is one possibility that's on the horizon that
might serve as a viable alternative.
Unlike a hybrid car or an electric one, many hydrogen car
prototypes operate on a similar principle to the gasoline
combustion engine of today. Hydrogen stations would take over
gas stations if this means of transportation developed.
The advantages to hydrogen are many, including its easier
to obtain nature and its cleaner burning ability. However,
since this is still in development, the costs can be high
and fuel sources scarce.
Although it might sound like a science fiction solution to
a real problem, the hydrogen car is a viable option that's
being explored by a number of major carmakers. In fact, hydrogen
cars have been under development by major automakers and even
some experimental ones for a very long time.
Colorado-based Hypercar, for example, has a functional model
and some of the big carmakers like Ford, Mazda, BMW and Chrysler
are also working in this vein.
Hydrogen cars are different from their gas-guzzling cousins
in a number of ways. Rather than rely on the burning of gasoline
to power a car, hydrogen vehicles use hydrogen, which is a
renewable resource, to power the engine.
There are two basic ways to derive power from this method
- fuel cell and combustion.
Combustion works pretty much like a gasoline engine does.
The hydrogen is "burned" to power the vehicle and
make it work correctly.
The hydrogen provides a cleaner burn that gasoline and it's
much easier to come by since it's a natural gas that can be
extracted from water and even methane, which of course is
produced during the decomposition process of organic compounds.
Fuel-cell operation involves the use of a battery. The hydrogen
powers the battery when it is turned into electricity through
the fuel cells. This method is also much cleaner for the environment,
but would require a lot of rethinking of how cars are made.
In addition to the fact hydrogen is easy to produce - it
can come from methane gas or water - it is also much cleaner.
Both methods of powering a car only create water as a byproduct.
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When the byproducts of gasoline combustion are considered,
hydrogen is a much smarter route for not only the environment,
but also for people. The emissions from cars have been linked
to everything from smog to global warming and the rise of
asthma.
Cleaner burning, more renewable and easier on the environment,
hydrogen powered cars are becoming more of a reality as time
goes by. For whatever reason their development has been slow
and their adoption is probably a long way away, but these
cars are certainly worth some serious exploration.
Copyright (c) 2006
About the Author
Aaron Vaughn writes about hydrogen power and you can find more news and
innovations about hydrogen power at the website Hydrogen
Place.com .
we must kick the reliance
on foreign oil but we have to drill more offshore and
do this in the short term while alternate energy means
are developed.
we new back in the
70`s and 80`s that this needed to be done,but we are
all guilty of putting it off especially our elected
leaders.
President
Bush has indicated it is imperative to kick America’s oil
habit. In conjunction with this goal, the Department of
Energy has just announced a $119 million dollar research
initiative. Money for Research and Development Obviously,
automobiles are the basis of America’s oil addiction. Everyone
seems to have at least one car if not more. To attack this
problem, the current administration is putting a lot of
emphasis on hydrogen fuel cell research for vehicles. Hydrogen
fuel cell vehicles are extremely environmentally friendly.
They work by converting hydrogen and oxygen into electricity
through a chemical process. This process is particularly
attractive because it produces no pollutants, is nearly
twice as efficient as combustible gas engines and relies
on extremely plentiful resources that are not located in
foreign lands. There are, however, a few drawbacks to hydrogen
fuel cell vehicles. Hydrogen powered cars are much more
expensive than traditional gas powered vehicles. The technology
is simply not advanced enough to make production cost effective.
The vehicles themselves are also not particularly efficient
at this point in time from both a performance and range
perspective. The answer to these problems, of course, is
research and development. To spur research on hydrogen fuel
cell cars, the Department of Energy has created a Research
Roadmap that is designed to identify and set goals for overcoming
technical and manufacturing problems related to this new
energy platform. At the Washington Auto Show, the agency
also indicated it was kicking in $119 million dollars in
grants to get the ball rolling. The Department of Energy
is focusing on a few key issues for research. They include
improving fuel cell membranes, water movement within the
fuel cell, advancing the chemical conversion process and
addressing the impact of impurities in the fuel cells on
performance and length of service of the automobiles. Each
of these subjects has proved to be a barrier to mass production
of hydrogen fuel cars. The ultimate goal of the Department
of Energy is to have hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in mass
production by 2020. To this end, the $119 million dollar
kick start represents a small part of the over 1 billion
dollars the agency will devote to research and development
on fuel cell automobiles. While 2020 may seem far into the
future, at least we are taking steps to move beyond our
reliance on foreign energy sources.
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