- Demand for hydrogen fuel is large and rapidly increasing
Cost effective with no gas emissions to pollute the air
- 50 million tons of H2 are produced for global consumption per year with a 4 to 10% growth per year.
- Applications include fertilizer, chemical industry, liquid fuels, transportation and oil refining.
- Utilization of new technologies (e.g. fuel cells and enriching of biomass or other low-quality fuels) can significantly increase the growth rate of hydrogen demand.
Enhances energy independence and sustainability
- Only nuclear energy can produce hydrogen at large enough scales to meet future demand while avoiding the release of greenhouse gases.
- In the future, utilization of advanced reactor designs to produce hydrogen can lead to efficiencies up to 50%.
- The sources of hydrogen are abundant, decreasing our dependence on countries in potentially volatile regions of the world.
- If we develop production of hydrogen fuel to its full potential, we can reduce our demand for oil by over 11 million barrels per day by the year 2040.
- Use of fast breeder reactors to produce hydrogen can provide a sustainable energy source for future generations.
Last updated July 9, 2012, 4:04pm CDT.