Hydrogen, as Direct Combustible Fuel for Transport by 2020 - Essay Example

There are contrasting perceptions of nuclear power as a source of energy due to the dangers it poses in the management of nuclear waste. According to an article published in How to Power the World, “the waste products of nuclear power contain “high levels of radioactive (materials which) are very dangerous. It lasts for tens of thousands of years before decaying to safe levels. It is highly radioactive and is probably the biggest hurdle we face if nuclear power is going to be taken seriously” (How to Power the World 2010). Nuclear energy has great potential to augment sources of energy in the future. Its use, however, should be further evaluated in terms of its long-term effect on the environment and the risks it poses to the existence of mankind.

Another article entitled An Ocean Breeze: Mapping Brazil’s Offshore Wind Power Potential written by Riebeek (2009) proffered his experience in “assessing the feasibility of an offshore wind farm southeast of Brazil” (Riebeek, 2009, par. 1). His project entailed measuring wind speeds using Nasa’s QuikScat. The limitations of using this approach coupled with other challenges including the number of turbines that must be built in their projected location showed that although this source of renewable energy is viable in Brazil, other factors need to be seriously evaluated before its implementation.

SWOT Analysis on Hydrogen, as Direct Combustible Fuel for Transport by 2020
Strengths:
• Among all of its potential applications, hydrogen's only waste or byproduct is H 2 O pure water, hydrogen-fueled combustion engines clean the air they pass through (Alternative Energy, n.d., par. 3)

Weaknesses:

• It is costly to produce, dangerous to store, difficult to transport, and tricky to distribute and its volumetric energy intensity is much lower than that of other liquid fuels like ethanol or gasoline. Safety would be another problem and it would be an enormous job, and would take many years, to accomplish the logistics and infrastructure changes required by moving from standard liquid fuels to hydrogen (Cordeiro, 2010).

Opportunities:
• Their ability to support the new wave of vehicle electronics that is being introduced (National Academy Press, 2010, p. 26); provide additional attractions to automakers: by eliminating most mechanical and hydraulic subsystems, they provide greater design flexibility and the potential for using fewer vehicle platforms and therefore more efficient manufacturing approaches (National Academy Press, 2010, p. 27)

Threats:
• For the foreseeable future they will likely be expensive, have less range, and be more difficult to refuel. Their ability to satisfy other demands and requirements is more ambiguous, depending on perceptions, design decisions, and near-term engineering improvements (National Academy Press, 2010, p. 27). Read More