A hydrogen economy is an energy industry, in which on all levels with hydrogen one acts and one economics. Different technologies exist for the production and storage of hydrogen. The advantages of the hydrogen economy come fully to carrying if a lasting use of renewable energies and/or of environmentalcarefully produced forms of energy as bspw. (not yet economically usable) the nuclear fusion is present. In case of the power generation by solar power one speaks of a solar hydrogen economy.

Technology and infrastructure

In a genuine solar hydrogen economy all solar primary energies are converted into hydrogen and supplied in this form to the final consumer. The transformation of electricity in hydrogen takes place by means of electrolysis. Carbon-containing sources of energy like fossil sources of energy or biomass are converted into regional plants by direct chemical action at high temperatures (water vapour reformation and/or Steam Reforming) into hydrogen. This is then transmitted to the final consumer by the gas networks of distributors already existing. Here the hydrogen becomes (with the final consumer!) first a gas cell supplied. This produces river and warmth from the chemically bound energy of the hydrogen. Since about half of the energy results as river, a high surplus of river is to be expected. This can be transformed however loss-free into warmth or be fed in the transition period into public electricity mains. Losses arise practically only with the conversion of the primary energy in hydrogen. These losses amount to however only about 10% of the primary energy, while the energy industry with losses of over 60%, practiced at present, works. The efficiency of a hydrogen economy would be thus more than twice as high. That has effects at expense and Potenziale. For the distribution of the hydrogen could be used the existing natural gas net with its memory in the underground without fundamental technical modifications. The gas stations were exactly the same attached to it like residential buildings and factories. Electricity mains became to a large extent redundant thereby.

Gas cells at the hydrogen net can adjust themselves to all load changes very fast, which makes them suitable for the employment in vehicles. Hydrogen is refuelled in (700 bar). Gas cell vehicles are everywhere in the world in testing. They are not series ripe yet.

Economics and Potenziale

The technologies for the installation of a genuine hydrogen economy are available and sufficiently developed. Therefore first estimations are possible over the costs with sufficient accuracy. The most economical primary energy is thereafter biomass. River would have to cost clearly less than 2 ct/kWh, in order to be competitive. That is possible neither with wind stream nor with atomic current.

For the hydrogen production the biomass can be also damp, because the process needs anyway water. With greener biomass, also in the form of storable Silage, a completely new Potenzial is thus opened. If in Europe the export from food to Dumpingpreisen one did without, power supply would be more than to enough biomass at the disposal for a 100%-ige. With same energy equivalent price of biomass and crude oil (73 dry weight and/or 24 "€/t "€/Fass crude oil), the energy costs would be only half as high in a hydrogen economy as in the material existing energy industry. The agriculture can managing with these prices also without subsidies more than cost-hitting a corner. The largest cost advantages are to be expected in traffic and in the generation of current locally. (At the end of of 2005) the supply of private households with heating energy on hydrogen basis would already be clearly cheaper than on natural gas basis.

In order to solve the hen and egg problem between the availability of low-priced series-manufactured gas cells and the availability from hydrogen to, the immediate entrance would be possible into the hydrogen economy also without gas cells without cost-pregnant conversions. With the heating systems (boilers) only the burner nozzles would be to be replaced. This one had already successfully and problem-free practiced also in the case of the conversion of town gas to natural gas.

Ecology

During the use of the hydrogen with gas cells develop only river, warmth and water. A solar hydrogen economy with biomass is therefore almost emission-free. Biomass is stored solar power. The concept is climaticneutral, because the set free CO2 was extracted from the atmosphere before by the plant. Since the CO2 in concentrated form results, it could be stored even to small extra costs (5%) in the underground. Thus could a weakening influence on the greenhouse effect have.

Babylonian language confusion

In the public frequently by a solar hydrogen economy one reports, which is in reality a current economy with an additional memory element. Beside pump storage and compressed air power stations surplus solar electricity is to be stored in the form of hydrogen and if necessary in gas cell power stations. The river is then supplied over national electricity mains to the consumer. The twice transformation in central plants leads to losses of energy from 60% to 80%. The backfed river is then approximately 4-mal more expensively than the expensive solar electricity. The designation "hydrogen economy "is here exactly the same wrongly at the place like the designation "water management "for our current economy with pump-fed power stations. Nearly all technical and medium report nevertheless use this false form of a hydrogen economy. Related links and literature data also all, up to "bio hydrogen ", describe this false solar hydrogen economy or tacitly presuppose them, like hierheise.de/newsticker - Federal Office for Environment Protection calls it utopia

Frequent questions

How does the first hydrogen come to the gas If still no hydrogen net exists, with tank cars, which liquid hydrogen (- 253 "°C) transport. Thus then also Drucktanks can be filled. The technical devices necessary for it are all already today available. The supply of gas stations with hydrogen alone is however still no hydrogen economy.

Isn't the compression of the hydrogen to 700 bar an enormous waste of For the compression approx. 10% of the refuelled energy must be spent on the compressors. This energy becomes free as warmth. Since however in a hydrogen world the warmth is nearly as precious as river (S. o.), it will be used also, for example for the heating up of the environment. From the compression to 700 bar thus practically no losses of energy result. So positive thinking generally helps to represent waste heat of technical processes as desirable. However the costs of production and carrying of sufficiently safe tanks in vehicles were not along-considered with these cost estimations.

Is hydrogen not very Each handling energy brings special endangerments with itself. In opinion of the author of this article hydrogen is less dangerous compared with our sources of energy used at present. That, then he means, applies also to the traffic range.

Aren't the leakage losses enormous in a hydrogen No. If one would fill hydrogen into our current natural gas net, the leakage losses would even sink. These are with approx. 0.1% of the transported quantity neither an economical still another safety problem.

Are the water vapour missions of a hydrogen economy a danger for the No. In a hydrogen economy less water vapour is immittiert than today. That is also because of the fact that the water vapour missions of our power stations are omitted, which more water vapour delivers into the atmosphere as the water consumption of households and industry together. Beyond that hydrogen is used predominantly in force heat coupling plants, with which the water vapour condenses.

Aren't enormous investments necessary for the installation of a hydrogen Indeed. If one the false form of a hydrogen economy regarded is necessary immense investments. With the genuine form of a hydrogen economy, which is predominantly based upon biomass, investments of 30-40 billion are comparatively small "€. If one became for example the investments, which the industry of the renewable energies plans anyway (Essener declaration of 2005), on which focus hydrogen economy, one could pay thereby the complete new infrastructure with all hydrogen factories in three years. Also another comparison makes the modest financial requirement clear: The investments are only half as high as with the planned new building of 40.000 MW as replacement for outdated power stations in the next 10 years. The sum which can be invested would be also smaller than the saved energy costs of only one yearly. A genuine solar hydrogen economy can be introduced thus from technical and financial view rather fast.

See also

Hydrogen company, hydrogen drive, hydrogen combustion engine

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