Green Hydrogen may be the Best Energy Future
Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe and about 11% by volume of water on earth. It is easy to isolate the hydrogen atom from water through electrolysis; this is the process of applying electrical current through water to separate oxygen from hydrogen. This occurs with any electrical generation but Green Hydrogen uses clean energy such as solar of wind. With the use of a membrane to keep the two atoms separate, the two gasses can be stored for later use. Hydrogen is a primary component of water and accounts for most of the fuel-cell energy generated when recombined with oxygen. The recombination also produces heat as a fuel source. You may ask: If hydrogen is so easy isolate and a near perfect energy store, why isn’t hydrogen our primary energy store? The reason is that it takes a lot of energy to convert the hydrogen gas to a liquid-form or solid-form for transport and distribution, so economic is a key factor. There are many factors that contribute to a successful society but economics has a tendency to step in front of the others.
Energy costs are a big concern to any economy because they are a large portion of the total cost of operation in almost all sectors of the economy. Historically, electricity has been generated and consumed concurrently but that is beginning to change. Water is pumped into storage ponds for hydro generation at a later time. Chemical batteries are now more commonly used with new technologies such as li-ion, sodium-ion and flow batteries. Energy storage technologies must compete with each other and competition is never a level playing field. Return on investment usually wins for the near term but viability in the mid and long term must also be considered. The future is difficult to predict and that is why the near term is usually given an advantage over mid and long-term considerations. If mid- and long-term considerations include diminishing hydrocarbon reserves and climate warming detrimental effects, solar and wind generated hydrogen stores become more financially viable. If mining uranium for nuclear power and its radioactive waste is environmentally dangerous, solar and wind generated hydrogen stores become more financially viable. Hydrogen stores also compete with conventional batteries for transportation and stationary power storage. If mining heavy metals for batteries is environmentally hazardous, hydrogen stores from any green energy source become more financially viable.
The field of competition is not level because near term ROI is the typical winner even though it is very likely that all the “Ifs” I have listed in the above paragraph are actually facts and will make conventional near-term energy and energy stores unprofitable in the mid to long term. The best investment, in my opinion, is generating hydrogen stores with solar and wind energy and for the time being nuclear energy as well. Looking to the mid and long term will serve us well and we can see this future because it typically follows the same tracks left from the past. And those tracks lead toward a cliff if we don’t change direction.
For distributed energy generation, Solar energy and hydrogen storage are the energy path we should be on now and for the foreseeable future. This would ensure energy stability, job growth, a healthy environment and a strong economy.
Build a strong energy future and there will be plenty of energy jobs now and in the future.
Kelly Provence
NABCEP Certified PV Professional Installer
Master Electrician
NABCEP Certified PV Inspector
IREC Certified Master PV Trainer
SOLAIRGEN
www.solairgen.com
