What Happened to Hydrogen?

Posted August 29, 2007 | 10:17 PM (EST)

Read More: George W. Bush, BMW , Breaking Business News

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When it comes to the economy, we ought to look much deeper for a solution -- like on the atomic level.

Some researchers at Purdue University recently claimed to have perfected a new hydrogen-generating technology that they first announced earlier this year -- a "pollution-free energy source" that can break down water directly into hydrogen and oxygen without input power. According to TG Daily, "This technology's greatest potential asset is the ability to create hydrogen on demand. If the researchers vision becomes a reality, this means that a vehicle's fuel tanks can be filled with safe water. Only one device near the engine compartment is required to actually produce the explosive hydrogen."

That got me thinking: whatever happened to the push for hydrogen-powered cars?

Last I remember, it was sometime in 2003 when President Bush spoke about the benefits of hydrogen fuel. "Tonight I'm proposing $1.2 billion in research funding so that America can lead the world in developing clean, hydrogen-powered automobiles," he said in his Jan. 29 State of the Union address. "Hydrogen fuel cells represent one of the most encouraging, innovative technologies of our era," he said in early February of the same year.

But since then, I haven't heard much. If it's so encouraging, how come the average American hasn't been, well, encouraged?

It's been a long while since I've seen a hydrogen-powered BMW on the street, and even the non-hydrogen hybrid Toyota Prius has come and gone, at least as a status symbol. Outside of ivory tower labs and automobile company drawing boards -- and a cute slapped-together government website -- the promise of exhaust pipes dripping water is hard to find, especially among today's headlines.

Maybe it's the din of Iraq, but I want to know: What happened to hydrogen?

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- Jason357 See Profile I'm a Fan of Jason357

They just had Future Fuels week on the Science Channel. They showed a hydrogen cell car that went 200 mph, 770 horsepower. There were other alternatives. Bush and his asshole buddies want to use coal and crude oil and rape the earth a lot more, but scientists are working with energy from cellular reactions to try and power batteries.

Scientitsts are working on all sorts of possibilities, but I doubt the POS politicians we know have in the US will allow anything to interfere with the old money gang bleeding the old fossil fuel system dry before introducing a new system of fuels on a meaningful level.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:10 PM on 09/02/2007
- senojjones See Profile I'm a Fan of senojjones

Classic example of how the media does not understand science. Replacing gasoline with hydrogen is going to take decades. You have to create demand and infrastructure. You have to figure out how to store it and make it economically. It will probably only be part of the solution. I expect that transportation in the future will be a combination of battery powered cars, enhanced rapid transit and hydrogen. Batteries have their own issues.

I'd love to see a future with energy efficient housing, widespread use of solar energy and hydrogen pumped to storage in every home. Power outages, common here in Florida, would be a thing of the past. Hydrogen by the way is anymore dangerous than LP or Propane.

Meanwhile we have to start building nukes. France gets about 90% of it's power from nuclear reactors.

It's time to sell the V-8.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 08:10 PM on 08/30/2007
- ImmanuelGoldstein See Profile I'm a Fan of ImmanuelGoldstein

But the REAL lesson is unlearned. The hydrogen economy was another distraction to keep alive the fantasy of carworld. So long as the ENTIRE energy debate consists of NOTHING but keeping carworld alive, then no progress will be made, just like none has been made since I heard this SAME argument thirty years ago.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 07:41 PM on 08/30/2007
- gadfly See Profile I'm a Fan of gadfly

WOW! "A 'pollution-free energy source' that can break down water directly into hydrogen and oxygen without input power."

At long last, we have overcome the laws of thermodynamics. Can a perpetual motion machine be far behind?

But seriously, hydrogen, like electricity, is not an energy source: it is an energy conveyer, produced by a primary energy source. And it takes more energy to produce hydrogen than is contained in the hydrogen (2nd thermodynamic law).

This is not to discount hydrogen as a (secondary) energy source. Once produced, hydrogen has great promise. If the primary source is, like geothermal or solar, extensive and non-polluting, this could be the way to go. But that would take time and a huge R&D investment.

As for the comment above, "if you can imagine it, it is possible... with government backing it will be a reality," this is the kind of nonsense we used to hear from the late Julian Simon. I can imagine flapping my arms and flying, but that is not and never will be possible. Nor will a perpetual motion machine. There are physical limits to possibility -- thermodynamics again.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 06:38 PM on 08/30/2007
- anfractuous See Profile I'm a Fan of anfractuous

When pure hydrogen burns, the flame is virtually invisible. Imagine trying to put out a such a fire. I guess you could assume that the source is near less exotic objects visibly engulfed in flame, but you couldn't be sure. Perhaps spraying some gasoline into it would help define it.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 05:58 PM on 08/30/2007
- hydrokevin3 See Profile I'm a Fan of hydrokevin3

Hydrogen cars are not dead, they are alive and well. I blog about hydrogen cars every day at HydrogenCarsNow.com so if you want to know the latest and greatest happenings this is the place to come.

In the past couple of weeks, Brad Pitt showed up to a Hollywood premier in a hydrogen car, Will Ferrell committed to drive one for a while, Ford set the land-speed record for production hydrogen fuel cell cars, GM is giving away 100 Equinox hydrogen SUVs and Rochester, New York has committed to becoming the first Hydrogen Village in the U. S.

So, when you say nothing has been happening with hydrogen cars over the past few years, you just have to know where to look, because many events and developments are happening every week in this field.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 04:56 PM on 08/30/2007
- escobar See Profile I'm a Fan of escobar

Oil companies run the government.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:46 PM on 08/30/2007
- SolarPowerGuy See Profile I'm a Fan of SolarPowerGuy

What happened to hydrogen? Nothing. And that is EXACTLY why the Bush Administration chose to talk it up. Hydrogen is a long-term solution which might replace petroleum fuel 100% -- once it finally works, decades from now. Meanwhile, little concern is given to technologies and lifestyle changes which can reduce petroleum use by, say, 30% RIGHT NOW. So, the oil companies get to keep screwing us.

Hydrogen's promise is that it is extremely clean. Hydrogen's disadvantages are legion.

It is famously difficult to store. At room-temperature conditions it is a very light, low-density gas which can leak through the smallest imperfections in a gasket. To store enough hydrogen in a car's fuel tank, you need to compress and/or cool it, or store it as a chemical complex (like ammonia or methane), or store it in a "chemical sponge" which absorbs and liberates hydrogen as required. The chemical sponge idea has been the subject of decades of research. While there has been progress, it still hasn't yielded an economical solution.

The question of how to manufacture hydrogen fuel is unsolved. Today, almost all industrial hydrogen is reformed from methane -- i.e., natural gas. The petroleum industry is fine with that! The idea of making hydrogen from methane also begs the question of whether we shouldn't just use cars powered by compressed natural gas. Thousands of CNG cars are on America's roads already. Most of the taxi cabs in my city are CNG.

You can make hydrogen gas by electrolysis of water. Most of us did this experiment in high school chemistry class. Potentially, electrolysis is a very clean process. But the energy you need to perform the electrolysis is many times the energy embodied in the hydrogen fuel end product. Where will you get this energy? When you plugged your electrolysis unit into the wall socket back in high school, you made hydrogen from water -- by burning coal at the neighborhood power plant.

An economical solar-powered electrolysis system is the Holy Grail of hydrogen fuel manufacture. When this is finally achieved, you will know.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:36 PM on 08/30/2007
- NothingButTheTruth See Profile I'm a Fan of NothingButTheTruth

Hydrogen vehicles have been done by many, it is viable and also a non-polluting and non-depleteable source of energy that would severely affect the profits of Oil Companies. Do some research folks and type in Stanley Meyer. Free electrical energy has been done as well by Tesla, Ev Gray, Floyd Sweet, and Steven Marks. Once again, do the RESEARCH! and quit listening to what the Media and the Politicians are telling you. Oil companies are owned by the financial elite, who also own the governments and the media. Wake up sheeple! Wake up sheeple! Wake up SHEEPLE! Come on now, all you have to do is open your EYES!

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:11 PM on 08/30/2007
- Luv2Purple See Profile I'm a Fan of Luv2Purple

When bush made the hydrogen announcement my first thought was "Which of his friends owns the company and will profit?" The charter boat that picked up & housed people after Katrina was from a large crepublican contributer. Has anyone sourced who profited from the trailers that have been sitting vacant and leaching formaldihyde? God damn this administration - God Bless America. Peace

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:04 PM on 08/30/2007
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