A Solar-Hydrogen Energy System for Environmental Compatibility

Abstract

Our Biosphere, the only one known to exist, is under attack by various factors. Major culprits amongst these include fossil-fuel-produced air pollution, acidic precipitation (acid rains), and CO2. As we run out of petroleum and natural gas, the question becomes: what should the new energy-system be, so that the damage to The Biosphere and life can be stopped? In view of the rapid depletion of the main energy sources of the present, the fluid fossil-fuels, this paper analyses the various primary energy-options (such as coal, breeder reactors, fusion reactors, and solar energy), and also considers such possible energy-carriers as synthetic fossil-fuels and hydrogen. In this analysis, the environmental effects of various options are considered both qualitatively and quantitatively.It is concluded that the Hydrogen Energy-system is the most efficient and economical energy-system possible, and that it results in the environmentally most compatible and permanent energy-system when coupled with solar energy as the primary energy-source. It is important now that this information be disseminated among the public in general, and environmentalists in particular, so that the implementation of the solar-hydrogen economy can be started without delay, in order to minimize any further damage to The Biosphere and its living components.