Hydrogen Powered Pollution Free Cars

Hydrogen Powered Pollution Free Cars
Scientists have made a world-first discovery which is a step towards using environmentally-fr iendly hydrogen to power our cars.

A team from the Universities of Newcastle upon Tyne and Liverpool in the UK, who report their findings in the prestigious academic journal, Science, have found a safe way of storing and releasing hydrogen to produce energy. They do this using nanoporous materials, which have tiny pores that are one hundred-thousandth (100,000th) the thickness of a sheet of paper.

Hydrogen has been investigated for a long time as a replacement for petrol, amid worries over the long-term availability of fossil fuels. It is also an environmentally-fr iendly alternative, as it produces only water rather than the 'greenhouse gas', carbon dioxide. However, scientists and others have been baffled for a long time about how to store the substance - which is a gas and so contains less energy in a given volume than the liquid petrol - safely and efficiently.

In his January 2003 State of the Union Address, President Bush announced the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative - "so that America can lead the world in developing clean, hydrogen-powered automobiles." Hydrogen storage technology - the ability to carry enough hydrogen on-board a vehicle to enable 300-mile vehicle range - is critical to the success of the President's initiative