Question:
What is your basic vision of energy for the future?
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Renewable regenerative fuel cell utilizing the energy source of the sun to produce power (Courtesy: Aerovironment) |
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Fuel cells represent energy diversity and a transition to renewable energy sources which will decrease the world's need for oil and possibly even conflicts arising in the Middle East. However when we're talking about fossil fuels, there is no dichotomy between fuel cells and fossil fuels because natural gas (a fossil fuel) is the cheapest way to produce the hydrogen. If you buy hydrogen today, it's undoubtedly made from natural gas. Right now fuel cells are simply a fossil fuel utilization device that happens to be highly efficient and clean.
The alternative to fuel cells would be renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and hydroelectric. My personal feeling is that interest in renewables will continue to grow. As people become more interested in renewables and the prices become more competitive, then my guess is that there will be more renewables used to make hydrogen,
Still another option with fuel cells is to produce the hydrogen through electrolysis (using electricity to separate the hydrogen and oxygen in water). But of course you need electrical energy to run the electrolysis, and the costs are much higher than the natural-gas based fuels that are already available today. In some countries like Norway, the cost of electrolysis is actually below the cost of reformed hydrogen, which is wonderful news for them and for the industry because they have cheap hydrogen. This is partly because they have such inexpensive hydroelectric power, and they can make hydrogen through electrolysis cheaper than they can buy hydrogen that has been reformed from natural gas.
So to answer your original question, the future of energy could go in any number of directions. Right now the DOE sees natural gas as the primary fossil fuel source for hydrogen. The renewable fuel sources, again solar, wind, hydroelectric, landfillgas, and urban digester gas are also possibilities, and the other would be nuclear, possibly, or even eventually coal. My personal view is that all these fuels will continue to progress, but eventually external factors will determine which ones get developed faster. For example, a political or military crisis may push things forward in a certain direction.
