Hydrogen economy: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 01:34, 26 January 2007

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Hydrogen is an energy storage medium, not a primary energy source. Nevertheless, controversy over the usefulness of a hydrogen economy have been confused by issues of energy sourcing, including [[fossil fuel]] use, [[greenhouse warming]], and [[sustainable energy]] generation.

Proponents of a hydrogen economy suggest that hydrogen might serve as an environmentally cleaner way to deliver energy to end-users, particularly in transportation applications, without release of pollutants at the point of end use; and that thisthese mayadvantages bemay hold evensimilarly with use of hydrogen produced with energy from fossil fuels, if [[carbon capture]] or [[carbon sequestration]] methods are utilized at the site of energy or hydrogen production.

Critics of a hydrogen economy argue that for many planned applications of hydrogen, direct use of energy in the form of electricity, chemical batteries and [[fuel cell]]s, and production of liquid [[synthetic fuel]]s from CO<sub>2<sub> (see [[methanol economy]]), might accomplish many of the same net goals of a hydrogen economy, while requiring only a small fraction of the investment in new infrastructure.