Mark Hamade

One of the most promising alternative fuels we have before us today is hydrogen fuel. The reason hydrogen fuel is so popular as an alternative to gasoline is that it can be made on site – right here in the United States of America. The push for alternative fuels is, in part, based on the fact that we have the opportunity to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. When we can produce hydrogen fuel on site as an alternative fuel, we are making history!

Hydrogen doesn’t exist on Earth as a gas. It must be separated from other elements through a process called electrolysis. No, we’re not talking about hair removal; we’re talking about removing the gas that is hydrogen from water so that it can be a viable alternative fuel that can be produced on site, right here in America.

Steam reforming is currently the least expensive method of producing hydrogen and accounts for about 95 percent of the hydrogen produced in the United States. It is used in industries to separate hydrogen atoms from carbon atoms in methane. Because methane is a fossil fuel, the process of steam reforming results in greenhouse gas emissions that are linked with global warming.

Right now, extracting hydrogen from water in order to get an alternative hydrogen fuel is currently a very expensive process, but companies are doing it en masse on sites all over the country. Hydrogen can be produced at large central facilities or at small plants for local use. Every region of the country (and the world) has some resource that can be used to make hydrogen. Its flexibility is one of its main advantages.

Hydrogen as an alternative fuel must be stored in fuel cells and that’s another reason why hydrogen fuel should be made on site instead of elsewhere such as a foreign country. The fuel cells are ways to store hydrogen fuel that will power a vehicle or anything else for that matter. When companies extract the alternative hydrogen fuel on site, they have made a smooth transition from a chemical process to something that the everyday man (or woman) can use.

Now that America is looking to hydrogen fuel as an alternative to gasoline, companies have found many ways to produce the gas on-site and make it safe to manufacture as well as to use!