Costs and Challenges of Hydrogen Production, Storage and Distribution

The limitation of fossil fuel resources and the resulting multiple environmental drawbacks are causing high wearing and tear among scientists and political leaders around the world. So nowadays, besides the limitation problem it is strongly urged that an appropriate environmental policy be put in place to address the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and hazardous substances. Hydrogen as it is a good solution to these global problems, although it is still expensive compared to the conventional solution, many researchers and engineers are trying to promote their development of more reliable energy technologies in order to convince decision makers and governments to make the leap to this alternative route, and if it could be done, a permanent energy system would be available that we would never need to change. Greater energy efficiency and enhanced local energy supply, particularly from renewable energy sources, should be the short-term goals worldwide. Besides, the production of hydrogen from sustainable, renewable resources has the potential to help fulfill the rising global energy demand. and become the most promising technology for energy supply in the future is hydrogen. In the long run, this hydrogen-based supply will affect the entire industrial, public administration and transport sectors. Due to technological advances, alternative fuels, more efficient and environmentally friendly technologies, especially hydrogen and hydrogen fuel cells, continue to be seriously considered by vehicle and parts manufacturers, transportation companies, the energy sector and even the average consumer. The objective of this chapter is to give the reader a synthetic view of the hydrogen production process, its cost, the Storage methods and the difficulties encountered when implementing hydrogen technologies.