Catalogo Experimenta 06

TOWARDS
A PLANET
OF HYDROGEN?
edited bt Piero Bianucci
Hydrogen, the energy of the future. Goodbye petrol, hydrogen
is arriving. Hydrogen, clean energy. How many times have we
read these news headlines in the in the newspapers? So many
citizens are convinced that hydrogen is the magic wand that
will resolve the energy problem. After all, joined with oxygen
to form water, doesn’t it flow abundantly and at very low cost
from the taps in the house? Already Jules Verne made Captain
Nemo say that water would become the fuel of the future…
Let’s immediately clear the field from the misunderstanding:
hydrogen is NOT a source of energy. On the contrary, as it
does not exist in nature, to obtain hydrogen one spends more
energy than one can obtain: to get hydrogen from the molecule
of water and that of methane or of other hydro carbons
has a high energetic cost. As one has electricity, which must
be produced by burning methane, combustible oil, uranium or
making water fall in forced ducts.
Hydrogen is, instead a vector of energy. It is just like electricity,
but once obtained paying the right price, it becomes interesting.
Combining it with oxygen from the air it gives back a
good part of the energy that we have spent to separate it and
the product of the reaction is pure water, therefore no pollution.
In addition in respect to electricity, it has the advanta-
ge of being stocked in large quantities and not only in heavy
batteries. One could think of a use of hydrogen even in large
plants. But certainly the first application which comes to mind
is transportation: cars and buses which circulate in the city,
where pollution produced by petrol and diesel is increasing.
The Regione Piemonte, Envi-Park and Fiat Research Centre
have taken the opportunity of “Experimenta 06/Around the
future” to present the state of the art on the theme of taking
advantage of hydrogen in general and for vehicles.
The path presented at “Around the future” is complete. It
starts with the identikit of hydrogen, the lightest, abundant
antique element of the universe, formed immediately after
the Big Bang, when the age of the cosmos was just a minute.
It then shows how hydrogen can be produced in the most
ecological way through electrolysis of water using electricity
obtained from the sun through photovoltaic panels, hydroelectric
power plans and windmills. The next stage illustrates
the use of hydrogen in the combustible cells, the use which
would resolve a large part of the problems of pollution of
our cities which would lessen the emissions of gases of the
greenhouse effect. Then the problems of storage are faced, of
distribution and of costs, on which research is working actively
throughout the world.
The Fiat Research Centre has already built a Panda with a
surprising performance: power 60Kw, reaches 140 kilometres
per hour and 50 starting from halt in 5 seconds, it has
autonomy of 220 kilometres, the tank is filled in less than
5 minutes, it overcomes slopes of 23 percent. Envi-Park has
built a small fleet of small hydrogen motors that are driving
kids crazy. This is only the point of the iceberg. There is the
project Piedmont System Hydrogen: the Region in its turn coordinates
Lombardy, Lombardy, Friuli Venezia Giulia and the
Province of Trento, companies, universities and study groups.
Of the 31 centres of excellence involved, 20 are in Piedmont.
What are the “invisible technologies” of a Hydrogen Panda?
INDEX SCIENTIFIC STUDIES
127