Applications of Hydrogen Storage

There are many applications for hydrogen storage and fuel cells. Many have already been employed and many are coming soon.

Hydrogen is excellent for storage and would make certain sources more feasible, such as solar and wind that do not produce electricity at a constant rate. This would open doors to many alternative resources and begin to shift our use away from fossil fuels.

Sending hydrogen through pipelines over long distances is more efficient than long power-lines carrying electricity. Hydrogen fuel cells are being used as remote site power plants today.

Hydrogen has already been used as aircraft and spacecraft fuel (the astronauts also drank the water produced by combustion). Hydrogen was a good choice for these because of it's light weight and large energy density.

Fuel cells that leave lower detection infrared and acoustic signatures (fingerprints) are being developed for a variety of military uses including submarine propulsion along with land and air applications.

Fuel cell-powered cars are being researched and tested. General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Daimler-Benz, BMW, Volkswagon, Volvo, Renault, Peugeot, Siemens, Toyota, Honda, Toshiba, Mitsubishi, Fuji, and Sanyo all have fuel cell development programs. These cars would be able to meet environmental and fuel economy standards with virtually no pollution and the fuel economy equivalent to 80 miles per gallon. The Chicago Transit Authority will be testing three fuel cell-powered buses in 1996.

Hydrogen fueled internal combustion engines are being tested for automobiles and mass transit vehicles.

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