What if, the universe’s most abundant element, hydrogen, was the fuel for our cars? Using hydrogen energy, or hydrogen fuel, would be great for solving global warming and reducing the amount of greenhouse gas emission produced because it is a really clean energy source, there is a magnificent amount of hydrogen energy, and it’s more efficient than most energy sources. There are some disadvantages for hydrogen energy though. Hydrogen energy is expensive, transporting hydrogen is challenging, and there aren’t many hydrogen fuel stations around for refueling.
Hydrogen is the simplest element in the universe, with one proton and one electron. Since it is combined with other elements, it would have to be separated first. There are many different ways of separating hydrogen. Electrolysis of water uses electricity, and splits water molecules so there is pure hydrogen and oxygen. Or reforming, where a person uses a fuel processor called reformer and splits the hydrocarbons, using the hydrogen (Renewable energy world, 2016).
Fuel cells can be put into a car, and they combine hydrogen with oxygen. With this, they could produce the electricity needed from energy produced by that chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. It produces electricity as long as hydrogen is applied and keeps going. They do not need to be
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To extract hydrogen from other elements is quite expensive, like the electrolysis. This is the main reason why hydrogen energy isn’t used heavily from all around the world. Researchers are trying to find ways to make the process of extracting hydrogen from other elements cheaper and more affordable to everyone. There are also many researchers trying to find a way to make the process more efficient and produce less carbon dioxide (Dohrman, 2017). In order for hydrogen energy to catch more attention in the market, the cost would need to decreased, or it would be affordable to only the richer people (Rinkesh,