Is hydrogen the answer?
Clif Knight
The fuss that is being made about doing away with oil as the world’s primary source of energy and replacing it with electrically charged batteries for motor vehicles, mechanical equipment and household appliances is raising more questions than answers and leaves a dark hole to the problem of what to do with all the junk that is going to be left behind.
Is this a Chicken Little pipe dream that the sky is falling and drastic measures have to be taken sooner than later to save the human race from its own misdeeds, namely environmental change? Who really believes that America has the natural resources to produce enough batteries to meet the nation’s demand for fuel on any national holiday? That’s not taking into account the likely cost involved, especially when you consider that the consumer was spending only $2.00 per gallon for gas when the country was able to produce its own supply. Equally concerning is whether we’ll be able to produce enough electricity with wind and solar in researching power potential in heretofore untapped areas. For instance, I wrote a story several years ago about the research two local auto mechanics were doing to use water instead of gasoline as a fuel for a Cadillac car. Water is composed of two parts hydrogen and one part water. They were able to separate the hydrogen from the oxygen, as us students were able to do with a heat source in high school physics class. The bright blue flame from the opening of a pipette tube identified the hydrogen.
They installed a water tank in the truck of the Cadillac and used hydrogen to propel the car from Hartselle to Nashville and back. They reported that the car performed normally as it had done previously in their shop.
The time is now to be
They were not aware of fuel research conducted by automobile manufacturers in years past but believed that it was a possibility. They agreed that hydrogen has the properties that make it efficient as a fuel source and viewed it as a likely substitute for gasoline subject to a cost-efficient method of production.
