Electricity Storage Using Hydrogen: A Process Vital to the Future of Clean Energy

There are many sources of energy used today to generate power in the form of electricity. The ideal vision for the future is to find a way to store energy in its purest form for extended periods of time. Today, industry has chemical and electrolytic means to store electricity but only for a short duration, and the transportation of the electricity is mostly grid based. Hydrogen (H2), in the stable form of water (H2O), is present in large quantities and is well suited for the energy supply chain as an energy storage mechanism and secondary energy source. One kilogram of H2 contains as much energy as 2.1 kg of natural gas or 2.8 kg of gasoline [1]. H2 is produced by electrolysis, which can be modeled by electricity + H2O = H2 + oxygen (O2). The energy retrieval from H2 is accomplished by fuel cells in hazardous areas. The challenge is to make this process more efficient by using less expensive renewable electrical energy.