Read more reader reponses to DN Editor-in-Chief John Dodge's "Get
Energized about Energy" column in the August 11 issue as well as Design
News' exhaustive hydrogen
fuel cell vehicle and fueling infrastructure package.
The fact remains that
we put more energy into producing hydrogen than the hydrogen yields. So it is
an energy storage method, not an energy source.
And it isn't a very
efficient one either, except volumetrically
(joules/cm³).
It also remains that
methane reformation is not carbon neutral, as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide
are byproducts.
Methane reformation
does have the advantage that all the carbon is "freed" in one place; which might
make it reasonable to capture and sequester it.
Electrolysis is carbon
neutral, but requires even more energy than
reformation.
Until we get an
adequate SOURCE of energy that is carbon neutral (such as geothermal or fusion),
we might as well continue using coal, oil, and natural
gas.
Hydrogen provides a
bridge technology between a clean energy source and a mobile application that
may be better than a rechargeable battery.
It is therefore worth
developing the technology, so that it is ready when the energy source is
ready.
But the widespread
adoption of it BEFORE the clean source exists scares
me.
It will only make
things worse.
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