Hydrogen Sources, Biomass and Wind Power

Most of the easy-to-get oil has already been found, and increasingly, exploration efforts have to drill in areas that are more difficult. Many areas have been closed to drilling in the United States. At some point, in the future, it may take more energy to extract the remaining fossil fuels than the energy they contain. 

Hydrogen can also be produced from resources that are renewable, such as the direct and indirect sources of solar energy, this includes the large quantities of agricultural wastes, sewage, paper and other biomass materials that have been accumulating in landfills. 

Generating hydrogen from such waste materials may turn out to be one of the least expensive methods of producing hydrogen since this resource is quite extensive. It has been estimated that in the U.S., roughly 14 quads of the annual 64 quad total energy requirement could be met from renewable biomass sources, which is about 20% of our total energy needs. 

Although high-temperature nuclear-fusion reactors may some day be practical as renewable sources of energy for hydrogen production, they are probably many years away. Typically, over 100 million °F temperatures are required for nuclear fusion to occur and this technology, while under development, is not expected to be commercially viable in the near future. 

Natural gas is the least expensive source of hydrogen today. But, there may not be enough natural gas to meet the demand for natural gas power plants and to supply a hydrogen fueled economy. The prices of natural gas, hydrogen and electricity could see dramatic increases as the demand for natural gas to make hydrogen increases. 

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Alternative fuels can be used to power a fuel cell such as hydrogen, methane, natural gas, methanol, ethanol, liquehed petroleum gas and landfill gas, which can be produced from renewable energy sources such as biomass and wind. 

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