Hydrogen, Hydrogen Everywhere

In this article from last week, BBC News covers why hydrogen fuel cell cars have not been able to hit the market until now. The simplest answer they give is that fossil fuels just came first. Fossil fuels were accessible and were the basis of the industrial revolution. It wasn't until the oil crisis faced in the 1970s that people realized oil and other fossil fuels are limited. Climate changes made a bigger push towards electricity as the answer and hydrogen just seemed like a distraction to alternative fuel advocates. Now hydrogen is making a comeback.

Fuel cell vehicles have been around for decades, but they have been too expensive and too bulky to sell on the mass market. However, the latest fuel cells are cleaner, quieter, and much more affordable. The technology has greatly improved over the past few years, but as Dr. Hamish Nichol states, "You need the infrastructure to fuel those cars - it's a chicken and egg problem." Hydrogen refueling stations are being built around the world, but the process is slow and costly. For example, Germany H2 Mobility consortium plans to build 400 refueling stations by 2023, the price racking up to roughly €350 million (about $385 million).

Another potential problem hydrogen fuel faces is how to extract it. The two main methods in use involve splitting hydrocarbons or electrolysis of water. Splitting hydrocarbons, though cleaner than burning coal or oil, is still not completely clean (some call the hydrogen fuel extracted from this process "grey hydrogen" because of it). Electrolysis is completely clean, can be run on site at refueling stations instead of at a plant, and ideally runs on solar and wind power, but it is 10 times more expensive than the industrial production of hydrogen. Oil companies like Shell are searching for a cheaper electrolysis method, but for now industrial production is what companies would rather do.

The article ends by asking if hydrogen is really the fuel of the future. Experts say that it is definitely possible, but it would take time. Infrastructure, regulations, and the entire transportation paradigm has to be changed, and it will not happen by tomorrow. It is unclear whether biomass, electricity, or hydrogen will be the dominant fuel in the future, but all researchers agree that it is necessary to "decarbonise our world."

This article gives a good summary of the benefits and problems of hydrogen fuel cells while giving more of a European view of it. It also gives quite a few examples of where hydrogen fuel cells have been successful in Europe, which may need to be looked into later for the final paper. The article is very recent and gives a pretty objective review of the possibility of hydrogen fuel cell cars.

APA Citation:

Wall, M. (2015, March 26). Hydrogen, hydrogen everywhere. BBC News. Retrieved April 3, 2015, from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-31926995

MLA Citation: 

Wall, Matthew. "Hydrogen, hydrogen everywhere." BBC News 26 March 2015. 3 April 2015. <http://www.bbc.com/news/business-31926995>.