Energy storage
It is highly likely that the next few years will see the fossil fuels now used for the storage and distribution of energy – coal, crude oil and its derivatives, gas and the secondary energy electricity – being joined by the high-grade fuel hydrogen. Like natural gas, it can be distributed in pipelines and stored in tanks.
As hydrogen has no harmful effects on the environment, this new secondary energy system can be used to replace fossil fuels in every sector, there being no CO2 pollution of the atmosphere and only slight nitrogen oxide emission upon reaction with air instead of oxygen.
Thus, various designs of high-efficiency fuel cells can take the place of classical thermal power stations. In automotive engineering, a combination of fuel cell and electric motor can replace the conventional internal combustion engine. It remains to be seen whether hydrogen can be produced in an ecologically acceptable manner and at competitive prices.
Nuclear energy
Only three options remain in all the forecasts: electricity generation using inexpensive hydropower, as envisaged in the Quebec Project, nuclear energy or photovoltaics. From today’s point of view, only hydropower and nuclear energy can economically provide the electricity required for producing hydrogen from water by electrolysis in an environmentally compatible manner.
The peaceful use of nuclear energy meets with emotional and political resistance, but is still indispensable for electricity generation, particularly in countries with no major fossil fuel reserves, such as Japan.
According to the procedures applicable worldwide for assessing risks, electricity generation in nuclear power stations ranks among the safest technologies available. This statement takes the largest incidents to date into account: Three Mile Island (1979) and Chernobyl (1986).
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