Hydrogen Energy

Hydrogen Fuel is a revolutionary new type of fuel that is beginning to grow in popularity quite recently. The main reason is that the price of gas has sky rocketed between 2000 and 2008. The process behind the fuel is quite easy. All you need is a couple liters of hydrogen and a couple liters of water. When you electrolyte these two elements together, you release the potential energy stored in the atoms thus powering the car. This job is carried out by hydrogen fuel cells.

The hydrogen fuel cell is organized into four chambers. The first one takes in hydrogen while the second on takes in oxygen. In between these to chambers is a Proton exchange membrane where these two gases can intermingle. Then electricity is passed between these two gases thus producing a chemical reaction, which makes water and electricity. The water is released in the fourth chamber and then vented out of the car. On the other hand, the electricity generated is expelled in the third chamber and then used by the car to power itself and make more electricity. This process is shown below. This is somewhat of the process that goes on with the charger of the H-Racer although the H-racer mostly stores the energy given by the charger.

There are many advantages and disadvantages to the use of hydrogen as a fuel. Here are the advantages:

If a power plant is needed cars will wave to charge up

Although hydrogen cars are extremely expensive today the billions of dollars of research being invested annually is helping to bring the prices down. A couple decades from now, we could see a dramatic change in the automobiles where hydrogen power takes over as a leading contender. Until then we can make a slow transition into hydrogen power by making it a secondary source, and then finally the main source of power as the costs cool down more and more into an affordable range.