The Earth is in a bad condition. Glaciers and ice caps are melting. The world is heating up. The end of humankind and the Earth is coming, but this can be stopped. If all the people on our planet spend time to help create the Earth as healthy as it was during the start of humans we can stop our planet from destruction. But this all depends on humans. One very crucial way humans can shape up is in transportation. Many people in the world have cars and motorbikes which use petroleum for fuel which pollutes the air. A way we can try to fix this problem is to use alternative fuel vehicles. Humans can switch petroleum cars with hydrogen cars. The fuel in hydrogen cars is hydrogen so the exhaust is water which is completely safe. But are hydrogen cars really the best option? To find out we need to look at hydrogen as a car fuel and the facts about hydrogen cars.
Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars
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Honda FCX Concept
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Hyundai Tuscon Hydrogen
The environment in the world is getting ruined. The people of our civilization are harming our surroundings. For the human civilization right now it won't be far from now that we all pass away if we keep acting the way we are. Global warming, ice melting, and other catastrophes are happening right now. A major reason this is present is due to cars and what they use for fuel. Petroleum is what most of the people in the world use for car fuel. Petroleum's exhaust is nitrogen oxide which depletes the ozone layer which prevents UV lights to hit the surface of Earth. This creates holes in the ozone.
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In the picture the purple represents the part where there is a hole.
A way we can prevent this problem is by using alternative fuels. A fuel or energy storage we can use is hydrogen fuel cells. Hydrogen fuel cell is a technology that has been discovered to be a fuel in the early 21st century. But is a hydrogen fuel cell really good for the environment? Let's go further on to know the truth.
" Named by Lavoiser, hydrogen is the most abundant of all the elements in the universe. The heavier elements were originated from hydrogen atoms or from other elements that were originated from other elements that were originally made from hydrogen atoms."(Departmentof Energy 2003) Hydrogen has been estimated to make more than 90% of the atomsand of the universe is 3 quarters of the mass. It is found in stars and is important in helping power the universe with the cycles of proton-proton reaction and carbon-nitrogen cycle. Hydrogen is prepared in many ways such as heated carbon, the decomposition of sodium or potassium hydroxide on aluminum. " The Hydrogen Fuel Cell is a developing technology that will allow great amounts of electrical power to be obtained using a source of hydrogen gas".(Department of Energy 2003 ).
How Hydrogen Fuel Cells Work
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This image shows how hydrogen fuel cells work.
"Hydrogen has the highest energy content of any common fuel by weight (about three times more than gasoline), but the lowest energy content by volume (about four times less than gasoline)". (EIA 2007) But there are also negatives to hydrogen.
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This graph compares hydrogen and petroleum in kilometer/mega joule
This graph represents kilometer/MJ when using hydrogen vs. petrol as a fuel.
Hydrogen cars have many advantages and disadvantages but overall it is very good. Future makers are putting the the top capacity at 300 miles per gallon. This chart represents the hydrogen storage.
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This graph shows the volume needed for a hydrogen car to reach 300mile range.
"Since Californians buy one-fifth of the nation's cars, the new hydrogen car technology could simply replace the current gasoline engine automobiles in what is called "disruptive technology" where something so innovative comes along it simply replaces the old technology very quickly."(H-Tech Inc. 2005) Since the economy has noticed that hydrogen fuel cells are one of the best kinds of cars they are the most amount of car types that are being made.
There are many advantages for hydrogen cars. Hydrogen cars are cheaper to operate. They are pollution-free. Also it is competitively priced. Another advantage is that it is free from imported oil. Fuel Cells are fueled by pure hydrogen and the exhaust is water. Fuel cells use more energy from fuels due to the increase of electro chemical conversion over combustion. Fuel cells are also vibration free which make them easier to drive. Fuel cells have high quality DC power which is perfect for modern electrical applications such as hospital equipment and sensitive electronics. Fuel cells can produce heat and electricity as long as fuel is available.
A hydrogen car and its insides.
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This is the inside of a Tata Hydrogen Car from India.
A disadvantage of hydrogen fuel cell cars is simply getting the fuel. There are very few hydrogen filling stations and California has the most with 13 pilot stations (2004). They plan to 170 commercial ones by 2010. To produce the fuel you need 6 pounds of gasoline to make two pounds of hydrogen. Right now fuel cells are very expensive. The prototypes last only 1/5 longs enough to make them cost effective. They lose energy because it costs a lot to produce hydrogen than earned by using hydrogen. At the present while producing hydrogen we use fossil fuels and other stuff which puts carbon dioxide into the air. The production of hydrogen is very costly. The way hydrogen cars can work best are at different temperatures. The disadvantages of operating at high temperatures are increased corrosion rates.
A 2001Generation 2 Prius
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Due to the waste of energy hydrogen would not be the best energy resource."Unless a much lower energy method can be made for creating Hydrogen, the real answer for non-polluting energy will continue to be nuclear and solar."(MIchael Kanalos, 2007)
"Hydrogen fuel cells have been widely touted as an environmentally-friendly alternative to conventional fossil fuels. By oxidizing molecular hydrogen, the only direct by-product of their energy generation is water, which means they could significantly reduce pollution and man-made greenhouse gases."(Edwin Cartridge 2008) http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/17694. But you still have to get the fuel from somewhere and to get the fuel uses more energy than earned by using it.
This is a chart of producing hydrogen.
As you can see the best way to get hydrogen is from solar cells but it still wastes energy. A good thing about some hydrogen cars for the economy is that the junk yard can recycle 95% of the car so that we can save the material to make the car. But producing hydrogen a t factories can cause CO2 to plunge in the air due to that a hydrogen fuel cell produces more CO2 than a standard car.
