Hydrogen cars, wave of the future
by Hannah Gaedtke, News Writer
With help from federal funding, researchers are currently working to develop an automobile that can run on hydrogen.
One prototype, a hydrogen-fueled car, would contain a fuel cell in which hydrogen and oxygen would combine, releasing water and energy.
President Bush touted the advantages of hydrogen-fueled cars in his State of the Union Address last month, saying the technology would make the environment “significantly cleaner and our country much less dependent on foreign sources of energy.”
“The first car driven by a child born today could be powered by hydrogen and pollution-free,” Bush said.
As conflicts in the Middle East threaten America’s oil supply, the development of a hydrogen-fueled car has sparked the interest of both government agencies and major automobile industries.
Currently 55 percent of all oil consumed in the United States is imported; this percentage is expected to rise to 68 percent by 2025.
In order to decrease U.S. dependency on foreign oil and promote a cleaner environment, Bush budgeted $1.7 billion over the next five years in funding for Freedom Cooperative Automotive Research, or FreedomCAR, including $720 million in new support for a hydrogen-fuel initiative.
FreedomCAR is a joint effort between the Department of Energy and the U.S. Council for Automotive Research. Its primary goal is the production of a hydrogen-powered car with no polluting emissions. USCAR consists of the car companies Daimler Chrysler, Ford Motors and General Motors.
Thomas Holme, a professor of theoretical chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, said hydrogen fuel cells burn hydrogen to release large amounts of energy, but produce no greenhouse gasses.
“This released energy is channeled into an electrical current which can be used to power, in this case, a car,” Holme said. “No pollutants are emitted.”
The production of such a car would drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which are thought to be responsible for global warming, while eliminating the need for virtually all imported oil. With a shortage of fossil fuels on the horizon, hydrogen-powered cars would give the United States freedom from foreign control of energy resources.
Randy Cortright, professor of chemical engineering at UW-Madison, said despite enthusiasm from the White House, several obstacles could slow this transportation evolution.
“The question is, how (do) you get hydrogen into the car?” Cortright said. “Most people don’t envision their mother going to the station and filling up with high-powered hydrogen gas.”
Beside practicality, safety issues plague progress as well. Hydrogen storage is currently being tested in four forms, including high-pressured gas and low-pressured liquid. Each form of storage has extensive safety issues, including the possibility of explosion when damaged in car accidents.
“We have to keep in mind that the safety issues involved with these cars are highly associated to how we train people to drive,” Holme said.
Researchers are investigating the four forms of hydrogen storage on the UW-Madison campus. Cortright is part of a team of engineers and chemists testing the possibilities of hydrogen extraction from basic sugars and carbohydrates.
“Visualize a fuelling station running on biomass,” Cortright said. “It’s a much simpler reaction process, but not yet a viable option for a car.”
While research continues within the United States, other countries are joining the race as well. The German-based BMW Group has developed a running prototype and a fuelling station. Japanese and European countries are also working to find a practical alternative to gasoline use.
President Bush hopes to see practical results from FreedomCAR by 2010, but the Department of Energy projects 2015 is a more realistic goal.
“We could definitely see substantial results in the next few years,” Cortright said.