Energy is a force that can be controlled in order to maintain life as well as to simply make our demanding lives more simple and convenient. Some energy is renewable, like the wind or sun, but currently the most common way to acquire energy to power automobiles is the burning of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are non-renewable resources that have become essential to our species. Since the combustion of fossil fuels is one of the largest anthropogenic contributors to carbon dioxide emissions, it is imperative that we are open to new ideas and ways of life in order to adapt to our diminishing resources (Raupach, 2007). Human demands for transportation is not going to subside despite decreasing fuel availability nor are people ready to make sacrifices, so alternatives must be investigated and utilized.
With an increase in the global industrial economy comes an increase in the demand for and use of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are a non-renewable resource and humans have been selfishly extracting them from the earth, emitting incredible amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. However, humans are still constantly burning this resource, emitting gigatons of Carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, which has been steadily increasing since the year 2000 (Canadell et al. 2007). In fact, during the 1990’s growth rate of Carbon dioxide emissions was 1.0% y-1, in contrast from 2000-2005, the growth rate was 3.3% y-1 (Raupach, 2007). From this we can see that the burning of fossil fuels is extremely harmful to our earth, atmosphere, and the species we share them with and that impact has recently been increasing due to humans. This problem has led to issues concerning politics, society, international dependency, and climate change (Higgins, 2005). The resources needed to acquire the energy to power our technological and industrial lives are quickly depleting, everything humans do industrially requires fossil fuels. Soon there will be no fossil fuels left as well as an increasing amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, continuously radiating heat back to the earth. As these pollutants in our atmosphere are trapping heat from the sun, forcing it to re-radiate, the earth is progressively becoming warmer. This results in poor living conditions for many species, cutting down on the planet’s biodiversity. Therefore, cleaner methods of energizing and fueling our lives need to be created in order for the human race to adapt to these changes. People must be made aware of these alternative energy sources for transportation, heat or light. Specifically, there are many changes that can be made with vehicles in order to reduce the negative impact on our world one such method is the use of hydrogen fuel cells. This paper will take a deeper look into the benefits of hydrogen power and how it compares to current methods of generating energy.
With global warming becoming more and more of a problem it is extremely important that alternative modes of transportation and fuel are created. Since the United States of America are one of the largest contributors to the problem of global warming, Americans are obligated to acknowledge the issue and work to solve it. Specifically, cars are one of the largest producers of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel emissions. Not only do these fumes contain gases that are dangerous to the environment and the atmosphere but the combustion of fossil fuels also releases many carcinogenic chemicals. These emissions have caused nearly 1,500 cases of cancer in humans in the United States each year as well as lung problems from the pollution (Cooper, 2005).
As our demands for the fossil fuels rise it becomes harder to locate and extract them from beneath the earth’s crust. In addition, relying on other countries and trying to maintain alliances to obtain oils during this demanding time contributes to the dramatically increasing prices. For these reasons it is clear that humans all over the world must be committed to ending our dependency on fossil fuels while creating new ways to satisfy our needs. Thankfully, there are other methods of fueling cars that offer humans the possibility of independence from fossil fuels.
One method that is an excellent response to our growing problem involving fossil fuels is the use of hydrogen fuel cells to power automobiles. A fuel cell is a device that produces a continuous electric current straight from the oxidation of a fuel, like the reaction of hydrogen and oxygen. Some fuel cell vehicles can be powered from hydrogen-rich fuels, such as methane, natural gases, petroleum distillates, or even gasoline (EPA, EERE, 2007). Using this method requires the fuel to go through a process to extract the hydrogen from the fuel. This is an exceptional choice because one tank of fuel allows the vehicle to travel the same distance as a conventional fuel would (EPA, EERE, 2007). However, even though the impact is decreased by using these fuels paired up with a fuel cell vehicle, there are still some emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Engines that are powered by hydrogen require no fossil fuels and emit no pollutants into the atmosphere. Fuel-cell cars require merely oxygen and hydrogen to run and produce only energy and water vapor as a bi-product. All fuel cells that are being developed to be used in electric cars require the hydrogen cell. Hydrogen can be stored directly or produced onboard the vehicle if necessary by reforming methanol, or hydrocarbon fuels from crude oil. The engine design is simpler when hydrogen storage is used, but it requires developing a more intricate refueling system. If only 20 % of American citizens were to switch over to hydrogen powered cars, our country would be able to import 1.5 million less barrels of oil every day; 10,000 of these newly innovative cars would reduce oil consumption by 6.9 million gallons every single year in the states (Cooper, 2005).
Currently, there are several variations of fuel cells under investigation to replace the conventional fossil fuel-based autos. In terms of automobiles, the best fit type of fuel cell for the job is called the PEM, or the Proton Exchange Membrane cell (also known as Polymer Electrolyte Membrane fuel cells). These fuel cells are able to start relatively quickly and can run at lower temperatures that other types, PEM fuel cells can perform at 150 degrees rather than 1,900 degrees. These fuel cells are also compact and light weight with a fuel-efficiency of about 60%, three times that of an average combustion automobile engine (Cooper, 2005). In the case of the PEM fuel cell, hydrogen and oxygen from the air are used to produce electricity. Hydrogen fuel is pumped through field flow plates to an anode, the negative terminal on one side of the cell where an electric current enters. Simultaneously, oxygen from the surrounding air is sent through a cathode, the positive terminal of the cell by which the current exits. At the anode, a platinum catalyst causes the hydrogen to break up into positive hydrogen atoms and negatively charged electrons. Once split, only the protons can travel through the PEM to the cathode and the electrons are forced to travel on an external path to the cathode, creating an electrical current. When the oxygen, the protons and the electrons combine, they form water, which is the only byproduct of this process (EPA, EERE, 2007). The ways these automobiles are powered is fairly simple and easy for future consumers to understand.
A few problems have arisen since the discovery of hydrogen fuel cells as a source of transportation. Since the activity to take place in one cell only produces about 1.16 volts of electricity, multiple cells are needed; as a result a stack of cells must be created, making what is called a cell stack. The total energy generated from a cell stack depends on the size and number of the individual cells. Another problem slowing down the development of these automobiles is the issue of storing the hydrogen fuel. Enough pure hydrogen can only be stored to travel 200 miles at 5,000 pounds per square inch. However research is being conducted on how to store more hydrogen in the vehicle (EPA, EERE, 2007). These are mild problems and it is worth the time, effort and resources to develop a solution for them. Once cars can be created to run solely off of hydrogen fuel cells, prices will be reduced and our environment will benefit greatly.
Some countries are ahead of the United States in terms of hydrogen power. Iceland, for example has made a large step in reducing its poor affects on the environment. Particularly, over the past twenty years, Iceland has been working to decrease its dependency on imported fossil fuels by domestically producing hydrogen and hydrogen-rich fuels. Iceland consumes about 2000T of hydrogen a year which is produced by hydroelectric energy or water electrolysis, which is the process of decomposing water into hydrogen and oxygen (Science Institute, 2000). Regardless of the costs, modifying the ways humans power their lives is a very important thing to pursue and develop.
Several automobile manufacturers are currently introducing their new “green” cars to the public in order to demonstrate their social responsibility for cutting down the human impact on global warming. Accepting the impact that automobiles have on our environment is an important step for these businesses. As our society comes to recognize the need for more environmentally and financially friendly technology, the demand for these products will rise. In response to this predicted demand, companies are beginning to develop and introduce hydrogen fueled cars. For example, Hondas new, FCX Clarity is recently hitting the streets. This car is still developing to match the desires of various societies and is already being improved in ways including looks, function, speed, and price. Other than the puddles of water it leaves behind, this new automobile prototype is receiving good reviews. At first cautious, many owners build faith in the car as it gets 120 miles per tank of hydrogen (USA Today, 2007). Ford has also developed a new car to adapt to our changing resources. Their HySeries Edge is a plug in fuel-cell, hydrogen powered vehicle that powers itself with a 336-volt battery pack and emits nothing but water vapors (Popular Mechanics, 2007). This technology can also be seen being put on the market by Chevrolet, introducing the new Sequel and Equinox Fuel Cell (Fuel Solutions, 2007). Making these environmentally friendly vehicles also appealing to those consumers who don’t want to sacrifice function and style is a great way to encourage using fuel cell vehicles. People still remain skeptical about these new, odd autos but eventually the public will have more confidence and incentives to drive them due to economical limits concerning fossil fuels.
For these reasons it is clear that humans all over the world must be committed to ending our dependency on fossil fuels while creating new ways to satisfy our needs. There are many environment problems caused by the combustion of fossil fuels, our depleting ozone and resources have an incredible impact on our lives. Humans need to begin responding to the issue in order to minimize our anthropogenic impact on the earth and its future. Hydrogen fuel-cells are an exceptional way to cut down on automobile emissions that have been proven to be harming our environment and lives. Driving vehicles that run off of hydrogen emit either minimal amounts of global warming gases or just water vapor, decreasing the negative impacts of fossil fuels drastically. Utilizing hydrogen power is also a sufficient way to decrease the demand for fossil fuels; therefore our country becomes less dependent on other countries.
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