Transportation accounts for more than a quarter of total global energy consumption. For fuelling road transportation there has been much speculation about the use of hydrogen as an energy carrier, which proponents claim would usher in the “Hydrogen Economy”. The concept of the “complete energy conversion chain” has been used to compare the overall energy consumption and CO2 emissions from vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells with those from vehicles using a battery and electric drive. The analysis shows that if a sustainable source of electricity is used to produce hydrogen, then the hydrogen and fuel cell system is just equivalent to a battery. The efficiency of these two different approaches has been compared, and shows that the hydrogen system would consume nearly three times the primary energy required by a battery storage system. Conventional batteries do not, however, have a sufficiently high energy storage density to provide the range needed for most drivers. A new generation of plug-in hybrid vehicles is being developed which take advantage of the best attributes of both electric vehicles and conventional fossilfuelled vehicles. These vehicles show promise to dramatically reduce the quantity of greenhouse gases produced each year by the transportation sector.
Skip Nav Destination
ASME 2009 3rd International Conference on Energy Sustainability collocated with the Heat Transfer and InterPACK09 Conferences
July 19–23, 2009
San Francisco, California, USA
Conference Sponsors:
- Advanced Energy Systems Division and Solar Energy Division
ISBN:
978-0-7918-4889-0
PROCEEDINGS PAPER
Hydrogen Economy or Electricity Economy?: A Transportation Case Study Available to Purchase
Robert L. Evans
Robert L. Evans
The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Search for other works by this author on:
Robert L. Evans
The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Paper No:
ES2009-90318, pp. 563-569; 7 pages
Published Online:
September 29, 2010
Citation
Evans, RL. "Hydrogen Economy or Electricity Economy?: A Transportation Case Study." Proceedings of the ASME 2009 3rd International Conference on Energy Sustainability collocated with the Heat Transfer and InterPACK09 Conferences. ASME 2009 3rd International Conference on Energy Sustainability, Volume 1. San Francisco, California, USA. July 19–23, 2009. pp. 563-569. ASME. https://doi.org/10.1115/ES2009-90318
Download citation file:
7
Views
Related Proceedings Papers
Related Articles
Towards Sustainable Integration: Techno-Economic Analysis and Future Perspectives of Co-Located Wind and Hydrogen Energy Systems
J. Mech. Des (February,2024)
Impact of Component Sizing in Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles for Energy Resource and Greenhouse Emissions Reduction
J. Energy Resour. Technol (December,2013)
Assessment of Conventional and Alternative Energy Carriers for Use in Military Vehicle Platforms
J. Energy Resour. Technol (April,2021)
Related Chapters
Risk Mitigation for Renewable and Deispersed Generation by the Harmonized Grouping (PSAM-0310)
Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Probabilistic Safety Assessment & Management (PSAM)
Hydro Tasmania — King Island Case Study
Hydro, Wave and Tidal Energy Applications
Introduction to Pipeline Systems
Pipeline Pumping and Compression Systems: A Practical Approach