The Use Of Hydrogen As An Alternative Energy Source

With the negative impacts of fossil fuel usage compounding, countries around the world have made agreements to find alternative sources of energy such as solar, hydrogen, wind, and biomass. Some of these effects which include environmental pollution, global warming, amongst others, have made global leaders to make it a matter of urgency for their countries and economies to find new, preferably sustainable sources of energy.

Agreements such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG7) have further increased the necessity for the transition of economies from fossil fuels to alternative energy sources. Among the most common examples of these sustainable sources are solar and wind. However, hydrogen has been proven as a fuel for electricity production.

Although not commonly known, energy from hydrogen is renewable. However, the method of obtaining the hydrogen as a fuel to be used for electricity production has to be carried out with fossil fuels, particularly natural gas. The gas is needed to separate the hydrogen from water so it can be used.

During the production of energy with hydrogen, the hydrogen atoms reacts over an electrochemical cell with oxygen atoms to produce heat, water and electricity. These cells are called hydrogen fuel cells. Hydrogen fuel cells exist in variable sizes depending on the purpose they are needed for.

Although the means of getting hydrogen today is with fossil fuels, it is known that hydrogen is also produced during electricity production from other renewable sources, such as solar and wind. In the future, solar and other renewable sources may be used more intentionally as the primary source of hydrogen to be used as fuel.

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