Hydrogen as a Power Source

Hydrogen as a Power Source

For the past millions of years we have used fossil fuels, like coal and oil to power many things we use. When the Industrial Revolution came about we ramped up production of these fossil fuels in order to keep up with the demands. In the past few hundred years we have consumed so much fossil fuel that not it is all but gone and left the environment impacted. Currently we are losing 4 billion tons of crude oil reserves and, if the rate keeps going the way it is now we could lose all our oil deposits by the year 2052. Gas deposits could be gone by the year 2060, and coal by the year 2088. Now there is a new power source making its way into things we use every day. Hydrogen is now being used to power material handlers, transportation, and power generation.

Large retail warehouses operate around the clock so they use a lot of energy to move and lift products. Lead acid batteries were used in the past but required too much recharge time and held less energy with each charge, after 2 or 3 years they needed to be replaced. Now hydrogen power is being used to power these material handlers. BMW has been implementing a new fuel platform to power the plants material handling equipment. Hydrogen fuel cells are being used to power forklifts, tuggers, and stackers. Briggs Hamilton, BMW’s environmental services manager says “This project actually avoids 1.8 million kilowatt hours per year of electricity consumption (otherwise needed) to charge batteries…. If you don’t buy that electricity, you avoid about 1,200 tons per year of CO2 emissions. The benefits of hydrogen fuel cells is that it increases productivity up to 15%, It lowers operational costs up to 30% batteries no longer need to be changed out, there is mor...

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...n fuel that can be renewable. In hydrogen fuel cells, hydrogen combines with oxygen in the air to create electricity. The fuel cell can run continuously and generate energy as long as hydrogen fuel is provided. The only by-products of this are heat and water. Hydrogen generators take the hydrogen from water and mix it with oxygen to produce electricity. HgeneratorsTM generates pure hydrogen directly with electrolytic separation of pure water. Hydrogen generators are available for $1000 and up.

Hydrogen will soon replace all fossil fuels when all the oil, coal, and gas are used up. Soon there will be hydrogen cars and other vehicles on the road starting as early as 2015. Forklifts and other material handlers are being used in many factories to save money and make the factories more efficient. Power generators will be available for use in about 10 years.