Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Current projections indicate that electrolytic hydrogen from grid electricity
in the U.S. would create a net increase in global warming gases. Dedicated
sustainable energy crops could also serve as a part of a hydrogen economy
since they can be a carbon-free source of hydrogen through biomass gasifi-
cation, or be converted to cellulosic-based ethanol and then to hydrogen.
This option is attractive since ethanol is a room temperature liquid fuel and
substantially easier to transport. Energy crops could also diversify agricul-
tural markets, help stabilize the agricultural economy, aid rural economic
development and reduce the adverse impacts of agricultural subsidies on
developing countries. More research and development of the production
processes of biomass to hydrogen and ethanol-to-hydrogen is needed to
make this source of energy a cost-effective and viable option.
Eventually, hydrogen could also be produced directly from renew-
able sources through photoelectrochemical or photobiological processes,
but these are still at an early stage of research and development.
The Bush administration's hydrogen fuel initiative emphasized pro-
ducing hydrogen from coal. Coal has the advantage of being a domes-
tic resource, but it has major emissions of carbon dioxide and pollutants.
These problems can be addressed using coal gasification with carbon cap-
ture and storage. Then hydrogen from coal could become viable.
There is a need of large-scale carbon storage projects. The Depart-
ment of Energy has been working on projects to gasify coal producing
both hydrogen and electricity while storing the waste carbon dioxide in
geologic formations.
Clean options include nuclear power to produce hydrogen with no
emissions. But expanding nuclear power means overcoming safety, waste
disposal and security concerns.
Hydrogen has the potential to play a major role in energy indepen-
dence but policies are needed that mobilize our present technologies. This
means raising fuel economy standards, increasing hybrid vehicle use and
developing options such as cellulose ethanol.
NUCLEAR POWER AND HYDROGEN
A Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) study on the future of
nuclear power argues that nuclear power could be an important carbon-
free source of power that can make a significant contribution to electric
power supplies. The study also found that a survey of adults in the United
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