Here's an example of why I'm doing this blog - to start getting the full picture.
Hydrogen's praises are sung as the eco-friendly fuel of the future. Here's an article from last June that points to a study that suggests that if hydrogen does become a common fuel source, leakage from its storage and transportation could send hydrogen into the ozone that would cause a bigger and longer-lasting ozone hole.
If hydrogen catches on as a 'non-polluting' fuel for energy production, leaks from its production and transport could increase the amount of the gas in the atmosphere. This change would worsen ozone depletion, calculate Yuk Yung and co-workers at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena1.In a world of imperfect technology, their research suggests, hydrogen is not quite the perfect green fuel it is sometimes made out to be. Although its environmental benefits would still far outweigh any drawbacks.
Not that this makes me think a movement toward hydrogen fuel cells is a bad thing...I just like to know all the pieces of the puzzle, both pro and con.
probably the study is not completely wright...
Werner Zittel concludes:
However, keeping in mind that automotive exhaust emissions have increased their share of hydrogen emissions during the last two decades due to the introduction of catalysts, and that atmospheric hydrogen concentrations are increasing since at least 15 years (between 1985 and 1989 with an average increase of 0.6 percent per year [see Khalil M.A., Rasmussen R.A. "Global increase of atmospheric molecular hydrogen", Nature 347 (1990), 743-745] it is very likely, that in a global hydrogen economy anthropogenic hydrogen emissions are rather reduced compared with today's values.
the whole article:
http://www.wasserstoff.de/Neuigkeiten/archv203.html#LBST-Analyse_2003-06
Posted by: Wilhelm | January 11, 2004 at 06:06 PM