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What is the Impact of Hydrogen Fuel?
Hydrogen is a fuel like gasoline, methane, natural gas, and propane. Like these established fuels it stores energy in
high density and there are social, technical and economic issues associated with their use. Technical issues are the
domain of the science and engineering communities and economic issues the domain of the business community. Facilitators
are primarily concerned with safety and maintaining quality of life. We will outline some of these issues involved in
the case of hydrogen.
Safety Issues
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Safety issues go beyond the technical and economic and address fundamental human concerns with preservation of health
and life. Throughout the industrial age we have lived with the risks associated with the common fuels and have developed
ways to handle them to our general satisfaction. Generally, if the fuels remain confined in their storage and
application systems (such as an engine) they are perfectly safe. However, if they are released, the consequences can
represent a risk to life and property. Thus, regardless of your vantage point, from a safety point of view, you are
concerned with two issues:
 | Have steps been taken to ensure that the hydrogen has been safely confined? |
| If it has been released unintentionally, have steps been taken to minimize any effects? |
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How do we address these issues?
We address the safety issues through
| Education |
| Safety Analyses |
| Codes, Standards and Recommended Practices |
| Legislation |
| Demonstration |
Education
The role of education is to place hydrogen in its rightful context, historically and technically. It is in the very
nature of a fuel to have some degree of danger associated with it. The hazards they represent are neither good or bad;
they just exist and must be handled. Hydrogen is not significantly more or less hazardous than other fuels. By knowing
something about its use in the past, some of its basic properties and behavior, and comparisons with other fuels, a
public made up of knowledgeable individuals can assess hydrogen applications and participate in the public acceptance
process.
Among the generation that recalls the experience of the
The Hindenburg Incident in 1937, and experienced the cold war and the threat of the hydrogen bomb, hydrogen has
acquired an image of an immensely powerful and potentially threatening substance. The
nuclear fusion reactions involved in the H bomb have, of course, nothing to do with the
chemical reactions involved in the use of hydrogen as a fuel for internal combustion engines and hydrogen fuel
cells. Contrary to the impressions left by the hydrogen bomb and the Hindenburg, hydrogen has been used in the chemical,
food and electronics industries in large tonnage quantities with a remarkable track record for safety. The
basic issue with hydrogen is that it is an unknown quantity, at least compared to other common fuels.
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