Hydrogen cars initially sound like a dream come true, mostly because hydrogen is so abundant, and because once hydrogen fuel is produced, they produce no harmful emissions at the tailpipe. The problem is, making hydrogen fuel requires electricity. And in this case, the electricity does not go straight to the vehicle, it is used up front in a process known as water electrolysis, which separates hydrogen from oxygen. Hydrogen is known as an energy carrier as opposed to an energy source. And because it is a middle-man in the equation, essentially carrying the energy it received from the electricity, it is actually less efficient than just putting the electricity directly into a car in the first place. Unfortunately, some energy is lost each time one form of energy is converted to another. Hydrogen cars are also very costly, which may prove to be another major challenge. Current estimates place the retail price at more than $200,000. Honda has about 200 hydrogen vehicles currently in use through an experimental leasing program in California. Hydrogen vehicles also face challenges with regard to the need for infrastructure for refueling.
As you can see the issue is quite complex. The above options only really achieve "green" status if the electricity they use comes from renewable sources such as wind, solar, or water. There are also a number of other vehicles in different stages of development that can run on natural gas, ethanol, and even biofuel made from corn. They all have challenges of their own. What is clear is that there are many different paths we can go down as we move away from gasoline powered vehicles.
6 comments:
I agree that the issue is complex but it is an issue that must be addressed. And it seems to me that incremental steps are okay as long as they are moving steadily and forcefully toward a "greener" planet.
I also agree that the issue is complex, but it must be addressed. The vehicles right now may be expensive and way out of price range for the average American, but as long we manufacturers continue to work with this issue, the vehicles and price will be available at a more reasonable cost and more importantly more friendly towards the environment.
RESPONSE TO CHUCULAINN and GIGI
I am in total agreement with both of you that although the issue is complex, it needs to be addressed. The reason I wanted to highlight the many possible options for automobiles is because at some point, a clear frontrunner will probably emerge in terms of what is actually produced. I don't see all of the options garnering an equal share of the market. As you can see, some achieve better results in terms of reducing emissions, however, they may face greater challenges related to infrastructure or price point. I think it's very exciting that there are so many options in development, and agree wholeheartedly with Gigi that prices will settle out and become reasonable. Thank you both for your comments.
I think there are far greater issues other than pricing and the scientific complexity of it all. For these "green" cars to have any substantial effect on our environment I imagine that they would have to account for a large percentage of all automobiles. I have no research or data on this but just imagine, there are over 600 million cars in the world today (thats a number that is probably very outdated), if we were to aim for 5% of cars to be "green" that would mean 30 million cars. Sometimes it seems like we are much too far down the path to turn around.
RESPONSE TO DJB:
I know what you mean about having gone too far, and there are definitely some forecasts that say we are close to reaching a point of no return in terms of how much damage we have done to the environment. But I don't think we can give up on trying to do better. And hybrid cars also help the US with its goal in reducing our dependence on foreign oil, so I do think they will become a reality and ultimately a majority of the vehicles on the road will not run solely on gasoline. I think you bring up a great point when you say that pricing and the complexity of the technology perhaps isn't as big of a hurdle to overcome as I was thinking it was. Both of those things will probably work themselves out, which in my opinion is a huge step in the right direction.
After I read this post about the "green" cars, the first thought that came to my mind was that similar to djb's response. I definitely think trying to find cars that are more fuel efficient is a smart idea, but what percentage of the cars in our world would have to convert to using "green" cars for them to even make a difference? At first, this seems like such a great idea, but when it comes down to it, if we still have SUV's and large trucks, will these "green" cars even make a difference? It may seem as if I don't care about the environment due to this post, but that's not true, I'm just trying to be realistic. Also, I know a man who was considering getting a Hybrid car, but before he did he conducted lots of research to figure out exactly how much the cost would be. I can't remember the exact numbers, but I do know that he ended up not getting a Hybrid because due to the price of the car, it would be cheaper to buy a regular car and fill it up with regular gasoline for 5 years, then it would be for him to by a Hybrid car. Just something to think about. One last thing, if car manufacturer's were able to get the cost of these new fuel-efficient cars down, do you think that it would take the government stepping in and interfering and making it some type of law that people must drive smaller vehicles or Hybrid cars in order for this to take effect? Is this even a possibility? Energy4tomorrow...thank you for your interesting blog posts, they have really enlightened me about this issue, I enjoy reading posts on your blog.
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