Hey guys!! Have you heard bout the Indian government’s National Hydrogen Mission? It is a potential GS3 question in Mains 2021.
Please discuss among your peers and state
- What can be the positive and negative aspects of using hydrogen as a transportation fuel?
- Can it change the Indian transportation scenario in the light of the National Hydrogen Mission?
A fuel cell works much like an electric battery, converting chemical energy into electrical energy using the movement of charged hydrogen ions across an electrolyte membrane to generate current. There they recombine with oxygen to produce water – a fuel cell’s only emission, alongside hot air.
Although less efficient than electric batteries, today’s fuel cells compare favourably with internal combustion engine technology, which converts fuel into kinetic energy at roughly 25 percent efficiency. A fuel cell, by contrast, can mix hydrogen with air to produce electricity at up to 60 percent efficiency.
Uses of fuel cell -
a. negligible carbon footprint
b. 2-3 times as efficient as burning petrol
c. refuelling time is just 5 minutes (35 minutes in battery electric vehicles)
d. 5 times better energy storage per unit volume
National Hydrogen Mission - full draft to be released after some time. It was announced in the budget 2021-22. Indian government’s aim is to produce hydrogen from renewable energy which is not able to be used in the grid. And, the hydrogen produced from renewable energy is termed ‘green hydrogen’.
