This section of the site is presented
to illustrate the potential of hydrogen based energy systems. We want
to show you that if the world chooses to follow the hydrogen road then
all the basic technology is available now, we are not waiting for research
breakthroughs.
The cost of changing to a hydrogen-powered world will not be excessive,
especially if the external costs of pollution and ill health associated
with fossil fuels are taken into account as credits towards the cost
of using hydrogen as a clean fuel with no external costs. Only when
hydrogen enters a market at small volumes is there going to be a cost
problem and we will just have to find ways around these temporary obstacles.
See our What's
New section.
The following sections will show you how to calculate the cost of
changing to hydrogen. See for yourself, if you think our input figures
are wrong then you can substitute your own and see if a hydrogen powered
world is feasible. We would be very pleased to have some feedback on
this because it is difficult to get well documented information on costs.
Please send any comments to hydrogen@hydrogen.co.uk
or fill in the feedback form below.
When using this information, please refer to our terms and disclaimer
in our About Us
section.
If global warming is partly or wholly due to atmospheric CO2 produced
by the use of fossil fuels, then the hydrogen energy system described
here is one way of producing more energy for the world without adding
more CO2 to the atmosphere that would make global warming worse.
Global warming will have adverse effects on climate and will lead
to rising sea levels flooding towns, cities and farmland.
We cannot realistically expect to reduce the total world use of energy
because only ¼ of the world's population are using approximately ¾ of
the world's current energy production. This ¼ of the world's population
are unlikely to make the reductions in use required to accommodate increases
in energy use by the ¾ of the world's population currently needing more
energy supplies.
Some people advocate cutting back the consumption of resources and
energy generally as the way to a sustainable future. But the dynamics
(i.e. increasingly capitalist ) and realities of the world's population
and economies are such that a peaceful global reduction in consumption
is not possible. What is needed is environmentally sustainable growth
of world production to meet human needs. This will require an increasing
supply of clean pollution-free energy and the recycling of the Earth's
material resources which will also involve using more energy.
A hydrogen based system offers totally clean energy supplies with
no pollution. The system is based on renewable sources of electricity
and uses hydrogen as an energy carrier / fuel that is able to replace
all existing uses of fossil fuels. The hydrogen energy system could
meet all the world's energy needs forever.
It is more likely that the argument over what to do about global warming
is going to be won by people who say what can be done and not by people
who say what cannot be done. The hydrogen energy system offers a way
out of our energy supply impasse.
The hydrogen energy system is a simple concept, it is based on current
technology and would not be particularly expensive. Water, which comes
from the atmosphere as rain, is converted into hydrogen and oxygen by
electrolysis using clean renewable electricity. The hydrogen, which
is an energy carrier and fuel, is then transported to where energy is
needed and at the point of use the hydrogen combines with atmospheric
oxygen to form water which returns to the atmosphere as water vapour.
The exchange of water and oxygen via the atmosphere is always in balance
and there is no pollution.
The following diagram shows how the stages of the cycle fit together
to form a clean sustainable energy supply system.
