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HYDROGEN/SOURCES
source: [www.hydrogenus.com/H2-Production-Overview-Fact-Sheet.pdf]
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Hydrogen, as already mentioned, is not an energy source but an energy carrier – exactly like electricity. Today, we get the hydrogen we need from the following sources:- natural gas (methane), petroleum, coal, various chemical reactions, and from biomass (landfill waste, wastewater sludge, and livestock waste). It can also be made from water by electrolysis;
- hydrogen is currently made primarily from natural gas (methane), which is non-renewable. This solution does not yield full carbon benefits: it still produces CO2 emissions;
- methane is a recycled fuel (and therefore renewable) when made by anaerobic digestion of biomass;
- hydrogen production from hydrocarbons can also produce carbon, which in some forms has 10 times the strength of steel. With some research this carbon could be used for automobile bodies and structural members;
- a more direct and cleaner path could be to derive hydrogen from natural gas and renewable energy (wind or solar). Yesterday's windmills were used for pumping water, grinding grain or sawing lumber. Today's giant wind turbines are grouped to form wind farms and create electricity, which can produce hydrogen by electrolysis, resulting in a completely renewable hydrogen source. Solar energy can be used to produce electricity, which can then be used to make hydrogen through electrolysis.
- this approach (renewable hydrogen) would require public policies to solve the simultaneous need to modify the supply and demand sides of a hydrogen economy.
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