energy
Hydrogen is highly regarded as a new limitless energy source. Hydrogen, at 52,000 BTU’s per pound, has the highest energy content of any known fuel, and yet is considered to be safer than gasoline or methane. According to the US Department of Energy, the US produces 9 million tons of Hydrogen, most of it from centralized plants and refineries and the demand is growing.
~ Spenser Abraham Secretary of Energy September 6, 2004
Hydrogen is currently produced from a variety of sources all which face financial and environmental challenges. With most Hydrogen now being produced from virgin hydrocarbons, the cost per unit of energy delivered through Hydrogen is higher than the cost of the same unit of energy from hydrocarbon itself. Additionally, most Hydrogen production technologies use non-renewable resource feedstock, (95% of commercial Hydrogen comes from natural gas or crude oil) which makes for volatile feedstock costs.
The volatility in feedstock and the added cost of Hydrogen production affects the over-all “well-to-wheel” efficiency of Hydrogen fuel cell technologies. Despite the fact that Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are the most efficient compared to other vehicles, the inefficiencies in the fuel chain reduce the total efficiency of fuel cell vehicles substantially. Furthermore, fuel chain emissions that occur in the current methods of Hydrogen production are greater than any other fuel. It is important to note that the only emissions from Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are in the fuel chain phase.