Originally published July 3 2005
Hydrogen fuel burns clean enough to save lives, study says
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The amount of pollutants in the air would drop so dramatically if hydrogen replaced petroleum, that studies suggest around 6,000 lives would be saved each year just from the reduction in respiratory afflictions like asthma, reports nature.com.
If all the nation's vehicles were powered by hydrogen fuel cells rather than fossil fuels, the drop in pollutants that cause asthma, respiratory problems and other potentially life-threatening conditions could reduce deaths by over 6,000 a year.
So says a study in Science conducted by Mark Jacobson and colleagues at Stanford University, California1.
Many people argue that because hydrogen will probably be generated by burning fossil fuels, a hydrogen system is no better for our planet than oil.
Both produce the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, although at different points in the cycle of fuel production and use.
There's a health benefit regardless of how the hydrogen is generated.
Focusing on the health issues of hydrogen vehicles might convey their benefits to policy-makers in a better way than more general talk about emissions and pollution, says Ralph Cicerone, president-elect of the US National Academy of Sciences and an atmospheric chemist at the University of California, Irvine.
Jacobson and his colleagues considered the effects of replacing all fossil-fuel vehicles in the United States with ones powered by hydrogen fuel cells, which burn hydrogen in air to produce electricity and water.
They ran computer simulations to determine the state of the atmosphere for each scenario.
They also calculated what it would be like if all vehicles were converted to fossil-fuel/electric hybrids, of which there are various models on the market.
Regardless of the hydrogen or electricity source, air quality improved in all cases.
There was less carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen oxides and the eye irritant peroxyacetyl nitrate, as well as fewer sooty carbon particles.
Unsurprisingly, Jacobson and colleagues find that the best-case scenario is that in which hydrogen is produced from water using electricity generated by wind turbines.
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