Catalogo Experimenta 06

WHY
HYDROGEN?
edited by HySyLab - Environment Park
Starting with the sources of energy, the use of the resources
of the planet in such a way as to satisfy development necessities
but without raping the resources available to future
generations is our precise duty, and is a criterion that should
be universally assumed as the central axis of any sustainable
development policy.
Today the main source of energy is represented by fossil fuels
(petrol, coal, gas); all exhaustible sources, only found in certain
geographic areas and which above all are sources that
when used produce notable environmental damage.
These sources of energy are also defined as “non renewable” as
they are formed over millions of years and their availability is
limited, they constitute a “warehouse of energy” in depletion.
These fossil fuels have a strong impact on the environment,
in fact when burning, they liberate dust and gas pollutants
into the atmosphere, and amongst these gases, carbon dioxide,
which produces the increase of the so-called “greenhouse
effect” which raises the temperature of the planet.
To contrast these phenomena which cause serious damage
to the health of man and the environment it is indispensable
to resort to an increasingly more efficient and wide use of
renewable energy sources and reduce the energy waste which
has marked our recent past.
Energy is the engine of economic growth, and is the key to
reach a development system which can be called sustainable.
In fact it is from the production of energy through combustion
(which takes place in furnaces and in engines) that the most
emissions of pollutant substances in the atmosphere occur.
The energy consumption at world level tends to grow, despite
technological progress and the efficiency of the systems, inasmuch
as the spread of industrialisation and the improvement
in the quality of life in developing countries inevitably brings
about an increase in energy demand.
Now, as has been said, the production of energy is essentially
based on the use of combustible fossils, but the slow
depletion of the more easily accessed deposits and the increase
in demand brings about an increase in costs and an
increase in the environmental impact, with ulterior emissions
of pollutants and of climate changing gas,, and other
big social imbalances.
The alternative to all this is saving and the use of renewable
sources of energy, some already industrially mature, such
as hydroelectric; others such as solar heat, photovoltaic and
wind energy, which have a low energetic density, intermittent
production and a still high cost.
The use of a hydrogen vector as a source of energy could be a
further opportunity.
At the world level there is the necessity for a system which
satisfies the needs of the population in all the sectors,
assuring competitiveness and reducing the possible negative
effects to the minimum.
Significant is the uncertainty of the social, economic, environmental
and public health consequences of global warming, of
pollutants and the end of the oil reserves. The fact that such
effects can be potentially devastating and irreversible requires
us to intervene before being obliged to take improbable
remedial action.
It is necessary to aim at a future of sustainable energy based
on the complementary use of electricity and hydrogen produ-
INDEX SCIENTIFIC STUDIES
151