There are several precepts of fuel cell and hydrogen proponents that must be addressed. Like other technology miracles, many of the statements made are to be taken on faith, accepted as emotional experiences offering a feeling of comfort and safety. In this senses they are somewhat meaningless. The first precept is:

The fuel cell is clean – it generates no pollutants.
True and misleading. The hydrogen manufacturing process of extracting hydrogen from fossil fuels (gas, oil, coal) generates pollutants ñ and 96% of hydrogen used is only available through such a manufacturing process. The remaining 4% come from electrolysis which uses electricity generated mostly by fuel burning polluting power plants.

You can drink the water from a fuel cell car exhaust.
True if the car uses tanks filled with hydrogen. If it uses a reformer and you drink from the reformer, you may die – particularly if the reformer fuel is methanol. Methanol is a popular fuel for fuel cell reformers and is much more poisonous to humans than gasoline. Drinking from the exhaust pipe is a publicity stunt and intended to mislead the public into thinking the whole hydrogen process is non-polluting.

The fuel cell produces no harmful CO2 emissions when burned; the only byproducts are heat and pure water.
True and deliberately misleading. Harmful CO2 emissions are produced at the hydrogen manufacturing plant as discussed above.

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe.
True but meaningless. Of all the hydrogen in the universe only .0000000000Ö..1 percent exists on the planet earth. (I have no idea how many hundreds of 0s need to be typed to make this accurate. And it makes no difference. We can't get hydrogen from the sun.)

Hydrogen is the most abundant element on earth.
Hydrogen is part of water and all life forms on the surface of the earth as well as the fossil fuels formed from living organisms. But beneath the oceans and beneath the surface of the earth, there is none, except in a small number of oil, coal and gas fields. It is not clear if this statement is true. Most abundant can be by atomic weight or by number of electrons or not or if it has any meaning. Hydrogen is always some part of some other elements. Whatever the percentage on the earth, it takes more energy to ìformî the hydrogen than will be produced when the hydrogen is burned.

You can make hydrogen from water.
True and very misleading. Hydrogen is made from water by a process of electrolysis. (Hydrogen is made from fossil fuels by a process of ìreformationî.) Electricity, generated by burning fossil fuels or by nuclear power, is needed for the electrolysis process. Unfortunately, more energy in the form of fossil fuels is burned to turn the generators to create the electricity for electrolysis than is produced by the resulting hydrogen.

This is a difficult concept to grasp, not because it is intellectually complex, but because it is contradictory to the popular views about hydrogen which are being disseminated in huge quantities by the media. The average person finds it hard to believe that the government or hydrogen advocates would mislead him or her in such an obvious way. Thus they tend to question and challenge the naysayer. Hydrogen advocates have developed skillful language including the invention of the term "transition fuel" to obscure the issue. This includes the statement, ìIt is true that hydrogen is currently made from fossil fuels and we will continue to use natural gas as a ìtransitionî fuel until renewables are "on line."

Hydrogen will be made from renewables.
True. It can be made from water with electrolysis using electricity from wind mills or solar panels. However, at the beginning of 2003, extremely small amounts ofÝ hydrogen are being produced by renewables. A quick approximation of "small amounts" is calculated by multiplying the 4 percent of hydrogen being produced by electrolysis and the 4 percent of electricity produced by hydroelectric plus wind plus solar, resulting in an approximation of about 1/10 of 1 percent. In other words, more than 99.9 percent of hydrogen comes from non-renewables. We can make hydrogen from renewables but we have no idea if sufficient quantities can ever be made available.

Hydrogen is a carrier, rather than a source. (Or a "currency" as used by Ballard)
Carrier implies something or someone carrying something else. Hydrogen does not "carry" energy, then deposit it somewhere, and continue on its way. Hydrogen is a "form" of energy and is most directly related to electricity. Electricity is typically generated by burning natural gas or coal or from a nuclear plant. Hydrogen is generated from a process that also requires energy from burning fossil fuels. But hydrogen also requires a "feedstock" which is also a fossil fuel. Both electricity and hydrogen are forms of energy. Both cannot be stored in their original state, which is not true of fossil fuels. Both require a storage device – either a battery or a tank. And both can "leak" – electricity from the battery and hydrogen from a pressurized tank. Leakages are absorbed by the earth or the air.

Hydrogen is an exciting new technology.
Hydrogen has been used for decades and the fuel cell was used by NASA in the 1950s. Reviewing the fuel cell and hydrogen relative to the automobile, one notes that the leading provider of fuel cell engines was founded in 1979. A fuel cell bus was first demonstrated by Ballard in 1993. The first test cars shipped to test customers occurred in late 2002. The California Air Resources Board expects 250 shipments to be made in the next four years. The manufacturers hint at manufacturing rates of about 1 car per month. The technology is not at all new and the development rates, as compared to computers, internet equipment, and biotech are extremely slow.

Hydrogen-powered fuel cells are more efficient than ICEs.
This may be true but it is meaningless. The important question is if the total system, sometimes called ìwell to wheelsî is more efficient. This can easily be measured even today. On that basis, the fuel cell/hydrogen combination and the methods of obtaining the hydrogen are less efficient.

Top of Page