Q&A: Oil eventually will lose its place as leading auto fuel

Fuel Fix ^ | November 23, 2014 | Collin Eaton

[gingerbread]

It’s the perfect fuel. It burns very hot, the exhaust from burning HYDROGEN is water (H2O). It’s very easy to produce. You need electricity, a strip of metal and water. One side produces oxygen and the other side produce hydrogen. But hydrogen is so volatile that it cannot be stored in a tank, like natural gas or gasoline. But once someone comes up with a safe way to store hydrogen, every one with water, a strip of metal and electricity (like a solar panel), and a safe storage tank. It will do away with electric companies, oil and natural gas companies. The only problem that I can see, is that what to do with the tons of (H2O) that is released in the air? Now, that would be a “CLIMATE CHANGER”. Every internal combustion engine can burn hydrogen just as easy as natural gas or gasoline.

[Ozark Tom]

My speculation is a two to three decade period for an “Ideal” non petroleum energy source to totally supplant motor fuels for transportation. Even if a “Mister Fusion” power source was available as an installed option, the investment in current vehicles would preclude dumping them.

Value of petroleum would be stabilized at a price point relative to costs & speed of implementing an alternative energy source with similar utility. As new technology supplants petroleum consumption, initially a price trend down should occur. The older tech would become cheaper to feed and its already paid for. Later the value of petroleum probably would recover due to lack of financial investment toward new sources. Then accelerated adoption would be expected.

[Rodamala]

Bring it on, baby!

[thackney]

It’s the perfect fuel.

You obviously haven't had to deal with H2 in industrial processes, like I have.

It burns very hot

Tell me what you think that means as an advantage as a fuel.

the exhaust from burning HYDROGEN is water (H2O).

Yep. But we will talk about the "exhaust" that produced the H2 in a minute.

You need electricity, a strip of metal and water. One side produces oxygen and the other side produce hydrogen.

That is the expensive and most wasteful way to produce hydrogen. It takes significant more energy to produce the H2 this way, than the H2 contains.

That electricity, in the US comes mostly from Coal and Natural Gas. And it has significant losses of energy before you begin the hydrogen production.

So before you start making your hydrogen, 2/3 of the energy was already lost before you started.

Lose another 1/3 of the remaining power in the creation of the hydrogen. Now lose a 1/4 of the compressing such a low specific gravity gas; a lot of heat is generated compressing it.

So are losses, before we try to transport or use the hydrogen are as follows:

1 x 1/3 = 1/3

1/3 x 2/3 = 2/9

2/9 x 3/4 = 1/6

So for a 100kWH of Hydrogen, we consumed 600kWH of our other fuels, just to make it. And those fuels, did not "exhaust" just water.

But hydrogen is so volatile that it cannot be stored in a tank, like natural gas or gasoline.

False. We use Hydrogen in Industrial processes. Refining is the biggest industrial use. In the Gulf Coast Area, we have a plants that produces hydrogen and distributes it by pipelines to refineries in the area.

This is from one of the companies providing hydrogen in the area, Air Products.

They don't normally do anything as wasteful as electrolysis to generate the hydrogen. Typically, hydrogen is produced by steam-reforming natural gas. It still consumes more energy than the original natural gas, but not as bad as electrolysis.

Every internal combustion engine can burn hydrogen just as easy as natural gas or gasoline.

H2 is a low energy/volume fuel. Just as compressed natural gas has less energy for the same volume of gasoline, hydrogen is far worse. Range becomes a far greater problem. And the modifications of the fuel system use hydrogen are more complex than adding natural gas.

[central_va]

I think we should try and using large domesticated draft animals to pull us around in carts. Might work.