In order to make (clean) hydrogen fuel, don't we need *dirty* energy first?

Shan Lanen: Once we find an easier way to separate hydrogen from water, than hydrogen would be a very tempting resource. However, the energy from hydrogen is stored rather than produced, so it costs exactly the same to produce than you make from energy output. Just like dropping a rock. The energy from the falling rock does not come from the rock itself, but from whatever force lifted the rock. Our rock is hydrogen, the lift is coal.

Hilma Pestano: You're right,Hydrogen fuels and electric vehicles are focusing on the wrong end of the pipe. The energy has to come from someplace. Hydrogen and EV's would make it easier to change to cleaner sources such as solar, wind, geothermal and nuclear but it's also un-necessary. When researchers looked into more efficient ways of making hydrogen from H2O, they realized that the same processes could make carbon monoxide from CO2. The mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen gas is called syngas because you can synthes! ize any linear hydrocarbon your want including gasoline and diesel through the Fischer Tropsch reaction. Indeed that's how we dilute our high sulfur diesel to meet the federal ultra low sulfur diesel requirements. The researchers who figured this out now call their project the Sunshine To Petrol project at Sandia Labs. You can switch to whatever power source you'd like without changing a single vehicle.The main difference is that people are easily sold into thinking hydrogen and electric cars are good for the environment and it encourages them to buy new cars. Actually doing something good for the environment like switching how we make gasoline and diesel to solar, wind, geothermal or nuclear doesn't sell new cars and isn't widely understood by the public and only reduces corporate profit. Our environment isn't going to suffer from a lack of technology but from our need for a growing economy and the idiocy of the public in general. Those two factors are a lot ha! rder to change than any environmental problem....Show more

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Cecil Derenzi: "Is there any way around this??"--------------------Of course! Just leave out the part about needing more energy to produce the hydrogen than it will yield and be sure to leave out the part about where THAT energy will come from.This is the "Green Living" section. You are allowed to leave out details like that when you label it "green"....Show more

Robin Weelborg: You'd do better convincing people to drive lower powered smaller vehicles. Good luck with that.

Robbie Starchman: The only place oil comes in in making solar cells is in the power to manufacture them.Regarding Hydrogen, it CAN be made without power by chemical interactions but NOT efficiently.

Truman Biby: It already is getting used as a controlled gas in that small Island it somewhat is been interior the recent recently. Iceland is the only u . s . a . that has filling stations distributing hydrogen gas for autos powered by skill of gas cells. it is likewise one in all some ! countries at present able to generating hydrogen in sufficient parts at a lifelike value, because of the fact of Iceland's abundant geothermal potential. the 1st hydropower plant replaced into geared up in 1904 by skill of a close by entrepreneur. It replaced into located in a small city exterior of Reykjavík and produced 9 kW of skill....Show more