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Letter to Editor, Hydrogen is the most abundant element in our universe. Many people thought that hydrogen was only found in compound form such as water which is a compound of hydrogen and oxygen being represented as H2O. Recently, however, naturally formed hydrogen was found in reservoirs in Mali and France. Subsequently, hydrogen is anticipated to be found at least a half dozen countries and in Nebraska and Arizona. It is expected that a lot more geological hydrogen sites will be discovered in the future.
“Manufactured” hydrogen separates its compound element such as water into hydrogen and oxygen. It is a costly operation, and the process often uses natural gas that releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. In contrast, natural hydrogen is does not require processing for it to be used as a greenhouse emissions-free fuel.
Hydrogen is presently being used in Europe and other countries through-out the world to power automobiles (15, 000 in U.S.), trucks, buses, ships, airplanes, rockets, trains, construction and farm equipment and even golf carts. A recent hydrogen powered passenger train established a record of pollution- free travel distance of 1,741 miles without refueling or recharging. The current use of hydrogen in these various modes of transportation validates its ability to replace fossil fuels for our transportation needs.
Unfortunately, oil companies have continued to concentrate on financing the expansion of carbon petroleum products instead of shifting the focus to hydrogen in a meaningful effort to develop hydrogen as a paramount energy source of power.
Fortunately, politicians or Congress will not have to legislate or subsidize the companies to shift their focus to hydrogen. Economics will be the determining factor. Natural or white hydrogen, as it is referred to, will be competitively cheaper than petroleum products because it can be used directly in its natural state and does not require costly refining that is necessary for producing gasoline.
Unlike solar and wind power that are unreliable for continuous fuel power and necessitate battery backups, hydrogen can be stored without degradation of energy over time or temperature changes that can significantly reduce batteries’ effectiveness.
In some countries hydrogen is already being consumer marketed at existing gas service stations along side of the gasoline pumps. Hydrogen can be transported by retrofitted pipelines, ships, trains, or trucks to retail destinations.
Natural occurrence of hydrogen originates when subterranean heated water comes in contact with ironrich rock which essentially rusts, forming iron oxides, leaving behind hydrogen. (There is likely to be active reservoirs of hydrogen beneath Ely’s iron-rich rock that is located above the Mid-continental Rift System. The Rift was created by a split in the Earth’s crust occurring about 1.1 billion years ago.) According to the U.S. Geological Survey, hydrogen deposits can provide continuous clean energy for hundreds of years because the source of hydrogen energy is still being replenished by constantly flowing into existing reservoirs due to the earth’s heat dynamics and formation.
Our aging vulnerable national grid system will unlikely be able to provide continuously reliable and viable electric service when the almost 300 million U.S. registered vehicles are replaced with electric grid powered vehicles. (Manufactures have publicly stated that they plan to stop producing fossil fuel combustion engine vehicles by 2035.) It is ironic that currently 60% of the grid’s power sources are from coal, gas, and oil. The result will be switching vehicles that use gasoline to the electricity grid that uses fossil fuels.
Will the utilities be able to up-grade, increase their capacity, and finance the additional burden of the transportation needs, in a timely manner? According to Canary Media, “A mountain of solar, storage, and wind projects are waiting for permission to plug into the grid. The interconnection queue is now double the size of the entire U.S. grid. In 2015, a typical project took three years to make through the queue. In 2023, it took five years. These new demands will require acquiescence of many and very diverse stakeholders including the NIMBYS.
There is no doubt that solar storms and the anticipated severe climate change will increase the frequency, severity, and length of grid blackouts. Will enhancing the grid’s functions encourage domestic or foreign cyber or physical sabotage with vulnerable targets, especially since more of our economy and lives will be dependent on the grid?
There are many new startup companies that have as their sole purpose to find and develop natural hydrogen energy. This clean energy can be used not only for transportation, but also power for stationary needs in homes, office buildings, factories, warehouses, data centers, and utilities.
It may take a while to determine whether hydrogen can become the major contributor to the reduction of fossil fuels emissions, but there is more than just hope because very large resources of private capital and brainpower are being focused on overcoming possible obstacles to activate the benefits of hydrogen. On the other hand, the continuation of the status quo will assuredly lead our planet towards extreme heat, disasters, and rising sea levels.
Maybe in the future a small, self- powered hydrogen electrolyzer (splits water into hydrogen and oxygen) might be developed to operate in cars and other forms of transportation using water as the fuel.
Gerry Snyder Ely, MN
