Solar Hydrogen: Moving Beyond Fossil Fuels

The prospect of using hydrogen from water as a substitute for oil and other fossil fuels has moved from the realm of dream to distinct possibility. What has made hydrogen worth reconsidering now are recent dramatic developments in photovoltaic (PV) cells that directly convert sunlight into electricity. This book discusses the advantages of a hydrogen-based economy and how such a system could be implemented. Contents include: Needed - a low-polluting alternative to fossil fuels (emerging fossil fuel crisis and the prospects for PV hydrogen derived using thin-film solar cells); Photovoltaic power comes of age (amorphous silicon solar cell and implications for the future of photovoltaic power); Designing a PV hydrogen energy system (finding sites, designing the PV electricity production system, electrolytic production of hydrogen, hydrogen storage, compression and transmission, and cost of delivered hydrogen); How PV compares to other synthetic fuels (nuclear electrolytic hydrogen, electrolytic hydrogen from other renewable sources, biomass-derived fluid fuels, synthetic fossil fuels, and hydrogen safety); How PV hydrogen could replace oil (transportation fuel, automobile fuel and environmental problems and alternative synthetic fuels); Breaking into markets for gaseous fuels (residential heating, industrial cogeneration and as chemical feedstocks); An evolutionary path to the PV hydrogen economy (chemical markets,more » transportation fuel, residential space and water heating, and parallels with the development of PV electricity); and A policy agenda (policies for reducing the external social costs of fossil fuels, for promoting improved energy end-use efficiency, and for promoting PV hydrogen development). It would take many decades to complete the transition to a PV hydrogen economy, but since the dangers of over dependence on fossil fuels and the benefits of switching to PV hydrogen are so great, policy strategies for hastening the transition warrant high priority.« less