Chapter III, Section C, Item 4. The Hydrogen Fallacy: an erroneous
notion that hydrogen solves the energy crisis and is always green
Hydrogen IS NOT an energy resource.
That succinct correction of the hydrogen fallacy is worthy of its
own paragraph, given the complete–and deliberate–disinformation to
the contrary. Hydrogen is often touted as the most abundant element
in the universe. This is true, but not in a chemical fuel form ready
to be burned or used in a fuel cell. On Earth, most of this
most-abundant element is bonded with oxygen in the form of water,
and most of the rest is bonded to carbon as a hydrocarbon. The
hydrogen fallacy, whether stated or implied, is that hydrogen, as
some newly found energy resource, is a clean, carbon-neutral
solution to the energy crisis. The fallacy was implied by Bush in
the 2003 State of the Union address. Hydrogen was touted as a
solution to both oil-dependency and “pollution” issues, used as a
political smoke screen of the Administration’s neglect of both, as
if a new “silver bullet” had been found. The distraction worked, and
over 1 billion dollars was dumped into hydrogen and fuel cell
research budgets. The ends may not justify the means, but the
research and promotion of hydrogen was generally welcomed by both
the environmental and energy communities. Hydrogen does have an
important role to play in sustainability.
Hydrogen IS a clean energy carrier.
An energy carrier quite simply is a means of storing energy, a
critical need for most renewable energy initiatives. Most
“continuously sourced” [renewable] energies might better be called
“continually sourced” energies. The bulwark argument against
developing these resources has always been tied to the question of
dependability: how to surmount the regular interruption of their
sourcing. At least the resources that are ultimately derived from
solar energy: What do you do when the sun doesn’t shine, the wind
doesn’t blow, etc.? The answer is to “make hay [albeit not
agricultural hay, see above] when the sun shines,” i.e. to store the
energy. In that sense, hydrogen IS NOT an energy resource, it bears
repeating, but it IS an energy carrier. Hydrogen’s use in a fuel
cell is ultimately environmentally clean, unlike other possible
energy storage options, such as other chemical energy carriers and
batteries.
Hydrogen itself is not always “green.” In fact, of the two main
occurences of hydrogen (hydrocarbons and water), hydrocarbons—i.e.
fossil fuels—currently provide the most economically exploitable
resource, specifically natural gas, from which hydrogen is produced
by a steam-reforming process. Given these are the very same finite
resources we seek to replace due to their ultimate scarcity, and
given that hydrogen production from fossil fuels produces CO2
whenever the hydrogen leaves the carbon behind, in the long term,
hydrogen will have to come from its primary resource, water. The
electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen requires electricity, and
the energy resource for that electricity is an open
choice–petroleum, coal, natural gas, nuclear, or continuous sources.
Hydrogen can be either “green” or “brown.”