Scenarios for the Hydrogen Society

摘要

Hydrogen from fossil sources and projects like the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Nuclear Hydrogen Initiative (NHI) [1] are linked to centralized production and capital intensive investments in building distribution infrastructures providing, beyond technical challenges, high political implications. Solar energy as a far wider available source of energy and modular concepts for hydrogen combustion, like Hydrogen II in Almeria, Spain and the DLR SSPS tower in Cologne, Germany [2], on one hand, as well as hydrogen bioreactors fermenting waste waters, as Welch's hydrogen plant in Pennsylvania, USA [3], on the other hand, promote worldwide energy independence and, besides environmentally-friendly solutions based on renewable energy sources their decentralized technology, could become a real people's energy [4]. The way energy is produced and consumed shapes human behaviour and social structures. Small scale on-site production combined with hopes for low cost energy as Blacklight proposes by mastering the hydrino [5,6] make the switch from today's "carriers-refined petroleum and electricity" to the hydrogen home feasible [7]. This study analysis the possible socio- and geopolitical scenarios that will result from the direction that further technological development in hydrogen based power and advocates for decentralized, small scale projects due to their higher security and reliability, advantages in innovation processes, total efficiency and environmental sustainability as essential factors for future stability and progress in human societies.