There are several organizations in the world that are promoting a ‘hydrogen society’. They believe that is is possible to use water (water is hydrogen and oxygen) as a fuel to power our civilizations. And I can’t say that they are wrong. But there will have to be several breakthroughs in technology before this becomes a reality. I’ll give you addresses to these organizations as I enhance this website.
When hydrogen burns, it turns into water. This is why I qualify it as an eco-fuel. But what people don’t realize is that our current technology takes more energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen than you get from the hydrogen and oxygen when you re-burn it.
It is important to remember when considering to use renewable hydrogen, it has to be created somehow. The most common method is to use electrolysis (see Brown’s Gas Books); using electricity to split water. But we are back to our original problem; how do we make the electricity? And once electricity is made it is usually MUCH more efficient (and safer) to use the electricity directly than to convert it to hydrogen and then burn the hydrogen. Electricity can be stored in inexpensive battery packs (how to make inexpensive battery packs appears in the ‘Capacitive Battery Charger’ book). Electricity can heat our homes, cook our food and power our cars more efficiently than hydrogen can.
I have had direct experience, and have recorded the experience of others, that indicates that it IS POSSIBLE to split water using very little input power, then get the same energy out of burning the resulting hydrogen and oxygen as usual. This effect I call ‘Hyper-Gas’ and if achieved will actually allow us to use water as a fuel. I do not know how long it will take to figure out how to make Hyper-Gas…
Assuming that it somehow becomes possible to make hydrogen cheaply, there are several ways to use hydrogen in a home situation. Stored hydrogen can be used just like any other gas used now, like methane or propane. The appliances would need some changes, but you can heat your home, cook your food and drive your car using hydrogen.
Super Tip: ‘Super Gas Saver Secrets’ (opposite) describes a simple way to make hydrogen to run your home or vehicle from aluminum cans.