『(Abstract)
Since the beginning of the twenty-first century the limitations
of the fossil age with regard to the continuing growth of energy
demand, the peaking mining rate of oil, the growing impact of
CO2 emissions on the environment and the
dependency of the economy in the industrialized world on the availability
of fossil fuels became very obvious. A major change in the energy
economy from fossil energy carriers to renewable energy. fluxes
is necessary. The main challenge is to efficiently concert renewable
energy into electricity and the storage of electricity or the
production of a synthetic fuel. Hydrogen is produced from water
by electricity through an electrolyser. The storage of hydrogen
in its molecular or atomic form is a materials challenge. Some
hydrides are known to exhibit a hydrogen density comparable to
oil; however, these hydrides require a sophisticated storage system.
The system energy density is significantly smaller than the energy
density of fossil fuels. An interesting alternative to the direct
storage of hydrogen are synthetic hydrocarbons produced from hydrogen
and CO2 extracted from the atmosphere. They
are CO2 neutral and stored like fossil fuels.
Conventional combustion engines and turbines can be used in order
to concert the stored energy into work and heat.
Keywords: energy carriers; hydrogen; synthetic fuels; efficiency』
1. Energy and development
(a) Growing energy demand
(b) The efficiency paradox
(c) limited resources of fossil fuels
(d) Environmental impact
(e) Economic dependency
2. Hydrogen
(a) Hydrogen cycle
(b) Hydrogen production
(c) Hydrogen storage
3. Energy density
(a) Synthetic fuels
(b) Energy carriers
4. Conclusion
References