My main research question is "Is hydrogen a realistic fuel source
for the future?" For those
who do not know, the chemical element hydrogen has been used as a fuel source
for rockets and space travel, and is most famously known as the fuel used by
NASA's space shuttle program during the 1980s and 1990s. A lesser known use of hydrogen is that
it is used to power specially designed fuel cells, that can be used as a
substitute for an internal combustion engine when powering numerous types of
vehicles, including, but not limited to forklifts, motorcycles, cars, buses,
airplanes, ships, and even submarines.
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| NASA's space shuttle Atlantis in 1985. |
With
the advent of this great innovation, many questions arise, such as why are we
still filling our cars with gasoline?
If hydrogen fuel is theoretically more abundant, cheaper, more efficient,
and much cleaner than gasoline, then why isn't it already on the market? These are some of the questions I would
like to research and hopefully answer in my exploratory blog assignment.
 |
| This scooter runs on hydrogen. |
I
suspect that I already know the answers to some of these questions. There was a lot of hype around the
topic of hydrogen in the late 1990s, but then the bubble popped for some reason,
and discussion of the fuel source waned.
Then followed a period where people became disillusioned with the
technology and it was rarely mentioned. I would assume this is because it was revealed that hydrogen
isn’t as readily available, cheap, efficient, or safe as some people thought it
might be. This is another dilemma
I hope to confront in my research, the problem of the many false promises surrounding
hydrogen fuel. Is it a realistic
fuel solution or not? I’ll focus
my research efforts mainly using online resources, including the websites of legitimate news organizations, academic
reports, and government websites.
I also have a couple of books at my house that I will use to do research.
The
question of hydrogen as a potential fuel source, for the present and for the
future, remains a valuable subject of inquiry, as global demand for fossil
fuels is outpacing the ability for industries to maintain a reliable supply. Some scientists wonder if hydrogen
could be the next great industrial fuel source that powers the next 100 years
of automotive transportation. This
is the subject I will explore in my blog.
Great inquiry. It sounds like you already have a lot of background knowledge on this issue, but I hope the blog project allows you to explore new questions and learn about new facets of this issue.
ReplyDeleteBooks are great sources (just be sure to cite them on your posts, as you cannot link to them like a website).
Do you think the NASA website would have any good information on this subject?
"It sounds like you already have a lot of background knowledge on this issue, but I hope the blog project allows you to explore new questions and learn about new facets of this issue."
DeleteI only know what I follow in the news. I don't have any special insider information, like contacts at M.I.T. or in the military. I am nothing more than a casual observer and concerned citizen in the information age.
"just be sure to cite them on your posts, as you cannot link to them like a website..."
I will cite any books I use, if I can ever figure out those tricky MLA standards! ;)
"Do you think the NASA website would have any good information on this subject?"
Yes, I'll do some research on the NASA site. I already checked, they have some good info.
Hydrogen as a source of energy has always been a topic of interest for me also. I remember reading about a self-sustaining power supply that used fusion (of Nickel I believe) that was supposedly successfully tested last year sometime. It makes you wonder if alternative energy technology is being suppressed due to the money of big oil, or if it just follows the normal path of technology.
ReplyDeleteThe fusion process using nickel, you mention is probably related to the cold fusion hoax from the 1980s that occurred at the University of Utah. For some reason, that group of scientists got a huge amount of press and convinced much of the world for a short period of time that they had solved the world's energy problems.
DeleteHowever, it was only a matter of months, or even weeks, when it was found that their process didn't actually work at all. The whole debacle has become sort of an urban legend at this point. Some people still claim that the experiment actually did work, and that there is a huge cover-up of the actual data. Or there are people coming out of the woodwork saying that they themselves have finally mastered cold fusion. There were a couple of films made about that in the late 1990s, "The Saint," with Val Kilmer and "Chain Reaction," with Keanu Reeves and Morgan Freeman. Both of those films reinforce the conspiracy theories, but are usually regarded as pseudo-scientific by mainstream physicists. I can't explain why cold fusion and bubble fusion don't actually work, I just know that they don't.
I've heard more conspiracy theories about suppressed energy programs than I care to count. I reject much of the paranoia on the subject, because I just simply think that a lot of the mythical free-energy technologies don't actually exist. If they did, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be secret and people would be making tons of money off of them. In my opinion, the reason why alternative energy doesn't get funded in today's world is because most big energy companies won't invest in something they can't make a profit from, and most alternative energy technologies are just simply more expensive than current technologies already in use.
However, I wish energy companies would do more to develop alternative energy, even if it costs them in R&D. There is still a potential for some major breakthroughs, and it's possible that whoever holds some of the patents on future technology, will be really wealthy in 50-100 years.
Despite the skepticism surrounding hydrogen, it is a legitimate fuel and it's already in use, in ways that might surprise you. For some reason it doesn't get as much exposure as other alternative energy technologies, which is why I decided to write about it for my blog.
Wow! This is pretty intense and quite interesting. I never knew about Hydrogen becoming one of our main fuels, or that it was even being discussed. This is going to be a great topic to write your essay on because not a lot of people are aware of this situation, kind of like me. It would really make a change in our world if we could just use Hydrogen for everything specially fuel for our cars. If you think about it there's so many cars that are on the road every single day and all the polution that they are putting out into the Earth, Hydrogen may be the solution to this issue. The only problem would be how are we going to get there so that we are able to use Hydrogen instead of gas? Technology is so advanced now a days, it's just a matter of time until someone finds the solution and hopefully it won't be too late for the Earth!
ReplyDeleteHydrogen fuels are already in use, in many ways. You're right, unfortunately, a lot of people don't know they exist, or that they work as well as petroleum based fuels, in many applications.
DeleteHere's a blog link featuring photos of Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2004 GM Hummer that runs on Hydrogen:
http://intheklane.com/2008/03/10/environmentally-friendly-big-honking-suvs-the-hydrogen-hummer-and-hybrid-escalade/
The allure of hydrogen is that it produces no carbon emissions, and since most hydrogen is produced from water, we won't run out of hydrogen any time soon. Scientists love to hook up some fuel cells and allow the "exhaust," to run off into a cup and then proudly drink it, because the only by-product is water.
There is still a concern with hydrogen, with regards to global warming, because water vapor, the by-product of hydrogen fuel cells, is considered a greenhouse gas, like carbon dioxide. If the the world were driving hydrogen vehicles, it would create a large amount of water vapors, which act as a heat-trapping gas, similar to carbon dioxide. The good thing about water vapor emissions, however, when compared to carbon dioxide emissions, is that they aren't harmful for human beings to breathe, so it would contribute to better air quality in cities.
Hi Herbert, Great topic to discuss. You made its importance quite clear in your initial post and I'm very intrigued as to what you may find in your research. In middle school i was involved in a science group and we had to come up with an alternative form of energy. We ended up simulating our research with Hot wheels and magnets, which was fun but also raised several questions in my mind about similar topics like yours.
ReplyDeleteSome questions that might help:
- What other forms of alternative fuel are there that have been proven to be affective?
- What are some of your ideas on new forms of energy?
- Aside from cost, should the environment play a much heavier part in the urgency to find a new source of energy?
Hope this helps, and good luck!
Herbert,
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you are doing your blog on this subject. There is always a need for research on alternative fuels for us to use. I think that our dependence on fuel is excessive, and that other fuels are needed to help fill the excessive need. People are not likely to slow down their lives and walk to work all the time, or ride their bikes, so making other fuel options are very important.
What is the reason it is not used already? Is it cost? It sounds like it is a cleaner, more efficient fuel.