Originally posted by WellCookedFetus
Hydrogen also burns horribly in ICEs having to be burn "lean" because of its low flash point, hydrogen ICEs (except for turbines) suffer dramatically loss in power from 30-50% also producing many times more NOx pollution because of the higher air ratio. (the exact number varies but never proven below Nox levels of gasoline) So no Hydrogen is not a clean fuel.
Hydrogen requires 237.13Kj per mole to synthesis from water and when burnt only 20-30% of the energy is recovered in work in standard piston ICE, 55% in very efficient turbines, fuel cells 40-50%, 70% if a turbine is attached to run off the steam the fuel cell produces (look up SOFC). Oil only requires a small percentage of its energy to be mined, purified; ect about 15-25% of the oil needs to be burnt to mine oil (as of now it going to get costlier soon). Hydrogen requires an intensive electrical infrastructure to mass produced on a large scale, the amount of money needed for such a change is why people aren’t doing anything. Bottom line is oil is energy positive and at this time is cheaper per joule, watt, gallon, manpower and infrastructure to make and burn then making hydrogen and burning even electrochemically oxidizing (fuel cell) hydrogen. Hydrogen cannot be easily stored and no proven means exist that can store enough to have as many joules per lb or gallon as gasoline at room temperatures and/or pressure. Because of storage Hydrogen is practically useless for commercial aerospace (other then rockets) (airplanes). Fuels cells are not cheap and are nowhere near producing as much energy per lb of power source mass as ICEs.
Ethanol and biofuels can be made energy positive from bio-sources such as farmers waste. Resent biotech breakthrough makes energy positive cellulose-to-ethanol production a reality. Methanol can be made from methane sources such as sewage and garbage though inefficiently (most of the methane has to be burnt in the process making electricity if a turbine is applied) Biodiesel can be made from fats animal or vegetable, also oil can be synthesized from any organic material energy positive thanks to new technologies. The best part about this is it requires little to no changes in the automobiles and fuel management industries. All modern cars can run 10% Ethanol (E10), and with a OH sensor and lined gas tanks cars can run 85% (E85) Ethanol. Cars run better on ethanol. Ethanol and methanol burn more efficiently and produce ¼ as much NOx as gasoline (Ethanol and methanol have less energy per gallon then gasoline though, 2/3 ½ consecutively that amount of joules per gallon as gasoline) Ethanol and methanol can also run on Fuel Cells (look up DAFC) and are expected to fuel some commercial electronics such as laptops and cellophones by 2005.