Hydrogen and Natural Gas are promising alternative fuel sources that will help reduce the dependence on fossil fuels. These alternative fuel source will help reduce carbon emissions and reverse global warming.

The best source of using hydrogen and natural gas is in powering automobiles, trucks and buses. These alternative fuels are significantly more eco-friendly than gasoline and diesel.

Hydrogen gas is created by using fuel cells that convert water into hydrogen and oxygen atoms. The hydrogen is then used to generate energy to increase the fuel efficiency of the internal combustion engine used by today’s vehicles. Although hydrogen is a combustible and volatile fuel source, if it is used “on demand”, and not stored as a liquid, it is a very safe fuel alternative. Hydrogen gas powered vehicles are being tested in many countries.

Natural gas is already used in many parts of the world. Europe is the world leader, using it to help fuel it’s transportation sector. Propane is another alternative fuel used in Europe’s transportation sector. Propane is also known as Liquefied Petroleum Gas or LPG.

Natural gas can be blended with hydrogen to make H/CNG (Hydrogen gas/Compressed Natural Gas) to fuel vehicles. Using these blends is the first step in making hydrogen-based transportation available in the future. H/CNG vehicles may be able to offer immediate environmental benefits, such as reducing nitrogen oxide emissions. They also can help in the transition to using fuel cell technology in cars.

Governments around the world are partnering with their domestic auto manufacturers and chemical companies to do more research and development in the area of Gas Blends. In the United States, a hydrogen and compressed gas generation and fueling facility is being built in Phoenix, Arizona. It will provide pure hydrogen and hydrogen/natural gas blends to light-duty vehicles that have been modified to use these alternative fuels.

All of the major car manufacturers have H/CNG prototypes that are currently being tested. Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles being tested today include the 100% hydrogen-powered vehicles Roush/Chevy Silverado, Mercedes Sprinter , Ford F-150 32V and the Ford F-150 16V.

Hydrogen/Compressed Natural Gas (H/CNG) blended vehicles being tested include the Ford F-150 prototypes using 30%, 50% and 15% H/CNG.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 30th, 2010 at 1:52 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.