Hydrogen as a Future Energy Carrier

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Hydrogen as a Future Energy Carrier



WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. | ISBN: 978-3-527-30817-0 | Edited by: A. Z¨uttel, A. Borgschulte, and L. Schlapbach | English | PDF | 436 Pages | 7.50 MB

Introduction
Human beings developed on Earth on the basis of plants, that is biomass, as the only energy carrier. The average power consumed by a human body at rest is 0.1kW and approximately 0.4kWfor a hard working body, delivering about 0.1kWof work. The consumption of plants by humans and animals did not change the atmosphere because the carbon dioxide liberated by humans and animals was reabsorbed by the plants in the photosynthesis process. The only mechanical work available from nonliving systems were the windmills and the waterwheels, where solar energy was converted into mechanical power. With the discovery of the steam engine in 1712 by Thomas Newcomen [1] humanity had for the first time a nonliving machine available, consuming carbon or hydrocarbons and delivering mechanical power on demand. This initialized the industrialization process and thereby changed society completely, in particular the demand for more and more energy. The energy for the steam engine was found in the form of mineral coal, solar energy
stored in the Earth’s crust over millions of years. Coal as a solid energy carrier was later complemented by liquid crude oil and natural gas. Not only did the state of the energy carrier change with time, from solid to liquid and finally gas, but also the amount of hydrogen in the fuel increased from zero to four hydrogen atoms per carbon atom. The world energy consumption increased from 5×1012 kWh/year in 1860 to 1.2×1014 kWh/year today. More than 80% is based on fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and gas [2]. The population of human beings has increased in the last century by a factor of 4 and the energy demand by a factor of 24. The world wide average continuous power demand is 2 kW/capita. In the USA the power consumption is on average 10 kW/capita and in Europe about 5 kW/capita [3], while two billion people on Earth do not yet consume any fossil fuels at all. However, the reserves of, for example crude oil on Earth are limited and predictions based on extrapolation of the energy consumption show that the demand will soon exceed the supply [4]. The reserves.............................


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