Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
is similar to electricity, but unlike electricity, it is storable. Hydrogen fuel
cells combine stored hydrogen with oxygen to create electricity, and the
only by-product is pure water vapour. (So pure is this water vapour that
on NASA space shuttles - themselves powered by liquid hydrogen rock-
ets - the crew drink the condensed water vapour from hydrogen fuel cells
used to make onboard electricity). So hydrogen can produce electricity
without any direct CO
2
emissions. This does, however, leave the issue of
indirect emissions: hydrogen does after all require an energy source to
make the hydrogen in the first place.
In 1874, the science fiction writer Jules Verne suggested that “water
will one day be used as a fuel” in his novel
The Mysterious Island
, and
Iceland has made the biggest commitment to hydrogen of any nation,
aiming to transform to a “hydrogen economy” by 2050. As part of the ECTOS
demonstration project, which ran from 2001 until 2005, three hydrogen fuel
cell buses and one fuel station were built. All of the energy used to produce the
hydrogen derived from Iceland's renewable energies, making their hydrogen
use wholly carbon-free.
