Would like to know the manufacturing process and energy source – solar, wind. Interested in the associated economics and the timing for the US and world to be able to completely convert from gasoline to hydrogen powered cars.
Would like to know the manufacturing process and energy source – solar, wind. Interested in the associated economics and the timing for the US and world to be able to completely convert from gasoline to hydrogen powered cars.
Hydrogen as a fuel source is created as energy is stored in a fuel cell, like a battery. It is created by electrolysis of water–running an electrical current through water in order to separate it into hydrogen and oxygen. These are then later recombined to release energy. It's much like a battery.
Conceivably, you could use any electrical power source to create the hydrogen. If you used fossil fuels, it would actually be worse than using them directly, because there is about a 30% efficiency in converting fossil fuels to electricity, but still only about a 40% efficiency in converting hydrogen fuel to energy…so you'd lose a lot and it would be better to just burn the fossil fuels. If you're powering it from solar, though, it would be cleaner…but less energy efficient.
In terms of long-term energy impact, things like fuel cell powered cars won't really make much of a difference at all. The big difference comes in reduction of energy uses–lighter vehicles like sedans instead of SUV's, more fuel-efficient vehicles, people using public transportation like buses and rails more…etc. These things will have a much bigger impact on the environment than just moving over our energy source.