There’s nothing wrong with dreaming a dream of a circular economy, and a greener atmosphere. But this will require a new generation of storage ‘batteries’ using hydrogen gas. Indeed, we can already produce green fuel and hydrogen from sustainable biomass resources. Imagine a new generation of farmers producing their own energy!
Green Fuel and Hydrogen are Our Future Energy
Indian Union minister for road transport and highways was upbeat when he addressed a recent ‘Ideas of India’ summit. “Hydrogen is our future fuel, and India’s future vehicles will run on hydrogen and green fuels” he told Times of India. The giant Asian nation currently relies on energy stored in fossil fuels, but this picture is changing.
We need to get away from the idea of relying on carbon fuels, and electrochemical batteries to store our energy. This will take a radical mind-shift before we accept that green fuel and hydrogen are alternative ways to achieve the same goal. And that we can derive them organically from nature too. Energy storage will always be there, but the mechanism will change.
India’s Farmers Will Produce Their Own Bio Fuel
The minister was upbeat as he shared a vision that pretty soon farmers in India will produce green hydrogen and biofuel as part of this program. This is not a far-fetched idea. The UK Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) describes how ammonia from slurry, and methane from anaerobic digestion (AD) can both be used as fuels and are sources of hydrogen.
The board goes on to explain how on-farm systems including Micro AD “can generate more power and heat than a farm needs”. Indeed, the surplus renewable energy could be sold to the national grid. How much better is that than polluting the atmosphere with carbon-based fossil fuels? Our world of energy and batteries is going to change for the better, and we all need to embrace it!
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