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In that search for the ideal energy storage system it is worth while pausing for a moment to re-acquaint ones self with the concepts of electrical Power and Energy storage concepts. The interesting diagram below shows the advantageous position of petroleum spirit in relation to other energy storage formats. Not surprisingly Hydrogen emerges as a close runner up for "top flexibility honours" the perceived problem with its use is the density of the gas.
The Australians place much faith in the future development of super capacitors to store their generated electricity. Europe and the USA invest trillions of dollars into Super Grids to enable a varied input and and need generated distribution of electricity all done as efficiently as possible.
Nuclear Power and dirty old coal will play a major part in electricity generation plans of the West, in spite of fuel supply problems that wont go away until supplies of Uranium isotope finally become too expensive or there is a shocking Nuclear accident. Even in the event of catastrophic nuclear accident, the future outlook is poor as the demand for power tends to overcome the fear and dread of those worst affected by the disaster. The reuse of the remaining reactors at Chernobyl after the explosion merely demonstrates how vulnerable and power dependant the Ukranian electricity users had become in that long cold winter of the explosion.
There seems a real reluctance by all authorities to grasp and understand that any future mankind may have, must be fully sustainable. Tim Jackson's book Prosperity Without Growth www.earthscan.co.uk , is an essential read. He is Professor of Sustainable Development at the University of Surrey and also Economics Commissioner on the UK's Sustainable Developments Commission, in his book he clearly sets out the problems associated with the continued rape and pillage of our planetary resources by a greed motivated industrial and commercial sector.
A society based on the use of Hydrogen as a fuel has been envisaged and predicted by many observers including such visionaries as Arthur C Clarke. It is only recently that elegant and cheap solutions for the storage and reuse of the gas have been discovered. Scientists from the University of Delaware presented their proposals at the 13th Annual Green Chemistry and Engineering conference. Chicken feathers, when carbonised can hold vast amounts of hydrogen, more effectively even than the carbon nano tubes they replicate!
Utility Companies are simply unable to see how the hydrogen based society will work. This is primarily because their role and economic activity will be fundamentally changed. The centralized Power, treatment and distribution platforms which currently serve the global economies will become unnecessary as these functions are transferred to efficient local community operations. This change is already under
consideration as people ponder moves to more sustainable futures, constrained not just by carbon emissions alone but by the actuality of dwindling resources. Transition Towns pave the way ahead, in many cases the iron grip of the Utility Company is under rightful scrutiny.
The sustainable light weight Hydrogen Society will consume power within the realistic operating range of the storage technology of the moment. Locations where plentiful supplies exist will attract the heavier industries. In this new sustainable world of Hydrogen power, efficiency is everything and those inefficient and wasteful practices perpetrated by the many will fade from use.
