EU Research Shows that Hydrogen Energy Could Reduce Oil Consumption in Road Transport by 40% by 2050

The EU HyWays project has released its main report "European Hydrogen Energy Roadmap" The "Roadmap" analyzes the potential impacts on the EU economy, society and environment of the large-scale introduction of hydrogen in the short- and long- term (up to 2050). A few excerpts from the press release announcing the report follow:

The scientific project HyWays funded by the EU's research program has found that introducing hydrogen into the energy system would reduce the total oil consumption by the road transport sector by 40% between now and 2050. Substantial barriers have first to be overcome, ranging from economic and technological to institutional barriers, and actions must be taken as soon as possible. Following a series of more than 50 workshops the project has produced a Roadmap to analyze the potential impacts on the EU economy, society and environment of the large-scale introduction of hydrogen in the short- and long- term, as well as an action plan detailing what needs to be done for this to take place. The report is published as the Member States are due to give their approval of a new €940m public/private research partnership for the development of hydrogen and fuel cells.

The extensive and high-quality simulations of the project predict that the break-even point would be most likely reached between 2025 and 2035. The HyWays Roadmap estimates that in 2030 there will be 16 million hydrogen cars and the total cumulative investment for infrastructure build-up will amount to €60 billion.

I am still not a convert to the hydrogen economy, especially for use in transport vehicles.  I believe that economical plug-in vehicles and electric vehicles can be produced at less cost before the 2025-2035 time period that is cited and by 2050 should be able to reduce oil consumption by significantly more than 40% with biofuels providing a significant reduction in fuel consumption of light vehicles, which is not an option with fuel cells. The development of a low cost fuel cell for transportation is a major technical challenge in itself, let alone the infrastructure required to distribute the hydrogen. I admit that good progress is being made on these items, but why should we have two major projects going when it is clear that one can be economically developed in a shorter time. The EU certainly can proceed independent of the U.S. and Japan, but it seems such a waste to do so. Hydrogen from natural gas or by electrolysis seem to me to be a waste of fossil fuels and/or inefficient use of electricity. Hydrogen may have a place in power production and other large stand-alone projects where a hydrogen transportation infrastructure does not have to be developed.  This should be the first area that is developed. 

Comments

[Hydrogen Energy is the future]

www.energyfromhome.com

[Angela (prime hydrogen)]

Just curious what your thoughts are. Now that Obama is in office and gas prices are down, I wonder if this means that this will all be put on the back burner?

[Angela (prime hydrogen)]

The powers to be are taking notice. It's called the Honda FCX Clarity.

[run your car on water]

this is so good. thanks for the great information.

[run your car on water]

i hope they do this. lets drop the consumption.

[Sulfuric Guy]

The EU really becomes a leader in green technology. Well done! Other developed countries may follow EU in researching, and chemicals. For example, exhaust emission of H2SO4 gases and sulfuric oxides from automotive industry was droped by 35% since 2000

[Custom term papers]

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[henrylow]

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[Term papers]

looks quite a great post, it's having good information for research analysis. great job

[Mike C. Steinberg]

Real hydrogen technology is at least a decade away, and this is 2010. In the interim, what DOES make sense, is building and installing electrolyser generators, and use electolysis to crack water for oxyhydrogen gas to assist gasoline powered engines in our cars.

Contrary to what some axe-grinding naysayers say, it does work...it will increase your mileage. I'm willing to bet, that not one of the naysayers have ever built one and tested it. I have! It increased my mileage by 12 miles to the gallon. With some improvements, I think I can do even better. Don't listen to people who give you that line about "...the extra power required by the alternator cancels out the gain." Internal combustion engines on gasoline are only approximately 18% efficient. That means, that only a small gain makes a noticeable difference in fuel mileage, because of the better combustion of gasoline by adding hydrogen. Hydrogen is 4 times more powerful than gasoline. It makes the fuel burn cleaner, and more efficiently.

I bought an inexpensive book manual, that shows simply how everything works, and how to build one very cheaply, and get it to work. Listen, if you can change the oil in your car, you can do this...believe me! If anyone is interested in helping themselves, go take a look at my blog, at:

Mike

[Pure Hoodia]

It is the need of the hour to use the hydrogen energy to the fullest because the reservoir of fossil fuels are soon gonna be empty.

[Mojoblast]

Hydrogen is a very good alternative for fossil fuel in the coming future. There are many advantages of using hydrogen as a fuel. Firstly it is available in abundance on Earth. Secondly it is pollution free.

[Michael1938]

Somebody said they didn't have much faith in hydrogen powered mass transit busses by 2050. We already have some now! It's only been 104 years since man first flew! What do you think this world will be like in 40 years? I won't be here, but I'll wager that technology will advance to degrees never thought possible. Hydrogen is a tough nut to crack here on earth. Doable?...yes. It's the one element that we have, that we have more than we will ever need...water. Old Henry Ford had it right when he said, "...if you think you can, and you think you can't...you're right!"

[Drilling Chemicals]

That's great that you think in this way there's many times that people get boring reading a book.

[lubricants additives]

This was very interested and informative. However, you neglected to mention Autodesk's products (Inventor, AutoCAD, Showcase), which seems to be an oversight. Also, at Autodesk University I recently heard of a new 3D holographic technology that could be used in place of 3D printing. Not sure if it has a place in this article but thought I would mention it. Overall a very nice and effective job.

[auto scanner]

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[Auto Lease Los Angeles]

I have a hard time believing scientist and timelines now, it's always changing! Even the smartest people are wrong oftentimes.

[Dentist Hollywood]

Wonderful that Hydrogen energy could take oil consumption down by that much! 2050 is still a ways off, but a 40% reduction is amazing.

[Air Purifier]

How is this project coming along? Is 2050 still the goal time? It'd be good if they could accomplish this sooner.

[Rug Cleaning Los Angeles]

I agree with you that we should focus more on plug-in and electric vehicles.

[fish tv]

Nice article, I like reading what you post and then seeing what your opinion is, you're obviously very educated on these matters.

[Therapist New york]

Why do you think hydrogen from natural gas or electrolysis a waste of fossil fuels?

[seo services]

Do you know what's happening with this now?

[furniture stores burbank]

So down 40% in the next 40 years? Not bad I guess, wish this could happen sooner

[Ellionore]

In my view, the cost of end-use applications needs to be reduced considerably. Studies show that hydrogen decouples energy demand from resources and could also act as a temporary energy storage medium, thus facilitating the large-scale introduction of renewable energy into the power system.