The Hype about Hydrogen

Written in 2004, Romm explains the hype and problems behind hydrogen car systems. Romm brings up President Bush's announcement back in 2003 about putting $1.2 billion towards research in hydrogen cars, yet no such cars have yet to come out of Bush's promise that children born on that day would drive hydrogen-powered cars. Romm, who used to be an overseer for the US Department of Energy's program for clean energy, notes that the global warming issue is a big enough of a worry to begin finding emission-free technologies. Hydrogen fuel cells, though not yet perfected, can be a solution to the carbon emission problem faced in the US due to gasoline cars. Fuel cell engines are not only environmentally friendly, but the use of a nontoxic substance like hydrogen allows cars to become safer for humans as well.

However, with all the benefits that hydrogen engines could give to the world, they have many problems. Though hydrogen is nontoxic, it is highly flammable. Something as small as a cell phone or electrical storms can cause hydrogen to ignite. If these hydrogen engines were to leak, the cars have a much greater chance of igniting.

Another problem fuel cell cars face to this day is expense. Hydrogen overall is a very expensive fuel right now. About 95% of the hydrogen found in the US is found in natural gas and steam. Unfortunately, it is currently extremely expensive to extract hydrogen from both of these sources. Water can also be electrolyzed into hydrogen and oxygen, but the process consumes large amounts of energy, which defeats the idea of energy conservation.

A third problem with fuel cells is, as Romm calls it, a "chicken and egg" problem. In order for fuel cells to catch on to the mass market, it must be available in 30 to 50% of the market from the day the cars make it onto showroom floors. Even if this problem is somehow solved, hydrogen transportation and delivery infrastructure is not enough to keep these fueling stations running. Improvements in infrastructure that would be able to sustain these stations for about 40% of the market would take an estimated $500 billion.

The final problem Romm addresses in his article is the natural gas consumption problem. With such a large amount of natural gas available in the US, natural gas will most likely be the best source of hydrogen for these cars. However, Romm argues that this is the wrong source to use. The US consumes nearly 23 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas today, and by 2025, it is estimated that usage will increase to nearly 30 tcf. If it was possible to replace 40% of transportation fuels with hydrogen in the very near future, then it would require nearly 10 tcf more of natural gas use and nearly 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, nearly 10% of the current electricity usage in the US.

With all of these problems, the DOE estimates that hydrogen fuel cells will most likely be used by most of the general public after 2030. The current emissions and energy use in the US is forcing the country to find newer, cleaner ways to continue life in order to reduce greenhouse gases to a more sustainable level. Romm agrees that fuel cells will most likely not make it onto the market in the next few decades, but he does believe they are an important step in helping solve the global warming crisis. Instead, he believe that major breakthroughs in the technology must be made first. He claims that hydrogen vehicles do not need to be rushed out. Research should continue on these devices, but importance should be placed on clean energy sources and limiting expansions of inefficient carbon-emission infrastructure first.

This article will be great for the most recent paper and the final paper as it addresses a less positive side of fuel cell cars while still supporting them. It addresses many of the problems that fuel cells are bound to face in the next few decades. The article is old and has some old numbers, but it will be a good support for solving the problems that may be encountered in the next few years. Some articles may even refute Romm's.

MLA Citation:

Romm, Joseph J. "The Hype about Hydrogen." Issues in Science & Technology 20.3 (2004): 74-81. 27 February 2015. <http://web.b.ebscohost.com.hal.weber.edu:2200/ehost/detail/detail?sid=151c0db2-2ac5-4914-8d88-a9e2598e1670%40sessionmgr111&vid=5&hid=101&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZZ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=12875906>. 

APA Citation: 

Romm, J. J. (2004). The Hype about Hydrogen. Issues in Science & Technology, 20(3), 74-81. Retrieved February 27, 2015, from http://web.b.ebscohost.com.hal.weber.edu:2200/ehost/detail/detail?sid=151c0db2-2ac5-4914-8d88-a9e2598e1670%40sessionmgr111&vid=5&hid=101&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZZ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=12875906

Making Fuel Cell Vehicles An Almost Affordable Reality

This article from the Chemical and Engineering News website describes the recent advances in technology that have allowed fuel cell cars to decrease in price. Due to these improvements, Toyota has begun mass producing its own fuel cell model in Japan called the Mirai. These cars cost nearly $70,000 but can drive 400 miles on one tank and are on the path to becoming cheaper. The Mirai is expected to begin sales in April of 2015 in Japan and in the summer in California's select Toyota dealers.

Estimates state that the price of these clean vehicles will have to go down by roughly 50% before they can be successful on the consumer market. Changes in infrastructure also needs to happen and a mass switch to the technology will be a key component to the success of the vehicles. Toru Hatano, an analyst from IHS Automotive, states that fuel cell vehicles will probably not become popular until 2025 because as long as we have other fuels, people will choose not to use fuel cell cars.

The automotive business is also facing a split on what types of fuel cells should be used in these cars. Toyota plans on using battery-like fuel cells, making improvements on the batteries used in the Prius. GM and Honda, on the other hand, have teamed up to improve the PEM fuel cells. For now, the use of platinum in catalysts is being changed and the durability, especially in cold weather, must be worked on before any successful model is released. Interestingly enough, no automotive company has ever gone to Ballard Power Systems, a major fuel cell maker, and instead choose to attempt to make their own fuel cells. It is estimated that these companies will spend about $5 billion on fuel cell research each. Most automotive companies are aware that conversion to fuel cell cars will take decades. Toyota claims that this is not an issue, saying that the Prius was once seen as crazy and is now at nearly every manufacturer's lineup.

This article will be great for the final paper as it shows that improvements are being made for fuel cell cars to be integrated into the consumer market. Many popular automotive companies are working toward fuel cell enhancements, allowing the price of fuel cell cars fall to a more affordable price.

MLA Citation:

Bomgardner, Melody M. "Making Fuel Cell Vehicles An [Almost] Affordable Reality." Chemical & Engineering News 17 November 2014: 17-20. 20 February 2015. <http://cen.acs.org/articles/92/i46/Making-Fuel-Cell-Vehicles-Almost.html>.

APA Citation:

Bomgardner, M. M. (2014, November 17). Making Fuel Cell Vehicles An [Almost] Affordable Reality. Chemical & Engineering News, 92(46), pp. 17-20. Retrieved February 20, 2015, from http://cen.acs.org/articles/92/i46/Making-Fuel-Cell-Vehicles-Almost.html

Fuel Cell Vehicles and Refueling Stations

This article discusses the results of an experiment conducted in California to test the possible changes in daily travel with the implementation of refueling stations for hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles. The biggest problem with converting to fuel cell vehicles is refueling stations. There must be a large enough demand for them and there has to be space for them. It is possible for them to be integrated into gasoline stations, but gas station owner's approval is needed and lot space can be a problem. If these vehicles are made popular, there would need to be about 17,700 hydrogen refueling stations across the United States to meet a large consumer demand. The last problem would be deviations from consumers' daily travel routes, which is what this report addresses.

In order to test this problem, 68 hydrogen refuel stations were built across South California and various drivers were chosen to track how many more miles they had to drive to refuel their hydrogen-powered cars. When the results were compiled, it was found that the drivers on average only had to change their route by 1.3 miles. The best case involved no change in distance and the worst case had a change of 4.94 miles. In regards to time, the drivers lost an average of 2.5 minutes of travel, the best case being no change and the worst being 9.6 minutes. Overall, the results showed that there was a change in travel time, but it was not uncommon of people in the area who were forced to refuel. The average time for those refueling gasoline cars had an average time of 4.7 minutes, but this was due to the increased wait time at gasoline stations.

This article would be a good study to help support the integration of fuel cells. Refuel stations are a common issue when it comes to switching to fuel stations, but this study shows that this change may not be as difficult as it seems.

APA Citation:

Kang, J. E., Brown, T., Recker, W. W., & Samuelsen, G. S. (2014, February 25). Refueling hydrogen fuel cell vehicles with 68 proposed refueling stations in California: Measuring deviations from daily travel patterns. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 39(7), 3444-3449.

MLA Citation:

Kang, Jee Eun, et al. "Refueling hydrogen fuel cell vehicles with 68 proposed refueling stations in California: Measuring deviations from daily travel patterns." International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 39.7 (2014): 3444-3449. 12 February 2015. <http://af5ss8ab4n.search.serialssolutions.com.hal.weber.edu:2200/?sid=EBSCO:Academic%20Search%20Premier&genre=article&title=International%20Journal%20of%20Hydrogen%20Energy&atitle=Refueling%20hydrogen%20fuel%20cell%20vehicles%20with%2068%20proposed%20refu>.

Engineering: Fuel Cells by Henry Petroski

APA Citation:

Petroski, H. (2003, Septempter-October). Engineering: Fuel Cells. American Scientist, 91(5), 398-402.

MLA Citation:

Petroski, Henry. "Engineering: Fuel Cells." American Scientist 91.5 (2003): 398-402. 5 February 2015. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/27858268>.

This article mainly covers the history and the current states of fuel cell technology. In the beginning, Petroski describes the invention of the gas cell battery by Sir William Grove in 1839, which is considered to be the beginning of fuel cells. These batteries were too complex for their time and lost popularity due to the invention of the dry cell battery. Once the electric motor was invented, very basic battery-powered cars began to emerge in 1882, allowing the fuel cells to gain attention again. Unfortunately, fuel cell car sales were stunted and shelved once Henry Ford's cheap Model T gained popularity in 1909. The last new model of the century came out in 1921, but was four times the price of the Model T.

Fuel cells did not come back until about 1960 and only very, very small numbers were produced. Most were used in NASA programs and some naval vehicles, such as submarines. In the late 1960's, proton-exchange membrane (PEM) cells were developed and caught the attention of Geoffrey Ballard, who would begin to find ways to make the cells smaller and more efficient so they could be used in vehicles or other devices. Ballard created a compressed fuel cell and was able to successfully get the attention of the automotive business, namely GM.

Fuel cells have been getting plenty of attention from engineers ever since, but there are many problems with the current fuel cell vehicles. The biggest problem centers around the fact that most of the fuel cells will be hydrogen powered. Harvesting this power is a common problem faced with these fuel cells and some researchers fear that a hydrogen economy will rise out of it. Also, there needs to be more engineers and technicians on hand with this new technology. Fuel cells are currently used in batteries and smaller devices such as cell phones, but more research is needed to determine a working vehicle model.

Petroski's article has a great historical summary that covers some of the biggest events in fuel cell development, which will come in handy in this paper. Petroski has written multiple histories on various other technologies, so his work in this journal is very credible. GM's Hy-Wire prototype is also described  in this article, making for a possible example to use in the paper. This article will be a great help in addressing and narrowing down the big events in fuel cell technology and in discussing the biggest issues and worries of fuel cell vechiles.