Beyond petroleum
Is hydrogen the answer?
"I will get right to the point," declared Nobel laureate Richard Smalley, speaking before Congress. "Energy is the single most important problem facing humanity today. We must find an alternative to oil. We need to somehow provide clean, abundant, low-cost energy to the six billion people that live on the planet today, and the 10-plus billion that are expected by the middle of this century."
Smalley has a philosophical ally in Bruce Logan, Kappe professor of environmental engineering and director of Penn State's Hydrogen Energy Center. "When U.S. oil production peaked 30 years ago, demand exceeded output and the result was an oil crisis," Logan reminds us. "But when global oil production peaks, in the next ten to twenty years, we'll have another, more serious, crisis."
The race for solutions is on, and while ideas may diverge, the parameters are clear: The new energy source must be cheap, renewable, and environmentally clean. Non-polluting hydrogen—energy-dense and the most abundant element in nature—meets two of these requirements in spades. But whether it can be produced and used inexpensively is the crux of a large and growing effort in research, in the U.S. and abroad.
"It can't happen without breakthroughs," Logan acknowledges. "We need cheaper and better materials" in every facet of development—for the catalysts and membranes that make up fuel cells; for the safe, efficient storage of hydrogen aboard vehicles; for the solar cells that will be key to hydrogen production. Another significant challenge is to develop the necessary infrastructure for hydrogen delivery.
Under the umbrella of the Hydrogen Energy Center, Penn State researchers are working on all these problems, ranging from fundamental materials chemistry to collaborations with Pennsylvania's growing fuel-cell industry.
Though their goal may be thirty years away, Logan and his colleagues are clear about one thing: "The time to lay the groundwork is now."
We're pleased to offer our readers a glimpse at their future-building activities.
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