Currently we depend our energy source largely on fossil fuel. In today industry, fossil fuel is considered as the viable alternative than other source even when there is prediction that fossil fuel resource may not last another 50 years. As the number of people on the earth increase, so does the energy need. Many experts have warned the incoming energy crisis.
Not just limited source, fossil fuel also introduce pollution problem. Pollution from our current use of fossil fuel has force United Nation to put limit to energy use. By the name of global warming, many government forcing carbon footprint quota to industry and other country for limiting the use of fossil fuel based energy. This carbon quota has force many industry to either limit their production capacity or find another way to produce energy.
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To reduce dependency to fossil fuel, many scientists have proposed alternative method to produce energy. There are proposal to use tidal wave, safer nuclear, and geothermal. However, the current viable alternatives are solar energy and wind energy.
Currently liquid hydrogen is offered a solution for energy carrier. The energy carrier is needed to store the energy from productive area. While the hydrogen production today still rely on fossil fuel, in the future it can be produced using solar or wind energy. However, using hydrogen is not without problem. Hydrogen is more dangerous to handle than gasoline. The uses of hydrogen increase the risk of energy utilization.
While the hydrogen use in a fuel cell system is in the rise, it would take some more years before the technology mature. There is also need for development of support system that may also need a couple of year and a big investment before it becomes a reality. There is a need for non fossil fuel energy source that can be used today.
There is an increasing suggestion to reintroduce the use of ammonia for fuel. Ammonia is once used as internal combustion engine fuel. It eventually replaced by gasoline because ammonia has less energy density or power. However, with the rise of the need for non fossil fuel green energy, ammonia has become an excellent candidate. While there are method that use coal as material, ammonia can be produced from water and air from atmosphere, reducing the need to rely on fossil source.
Just like hydrogen, ammonia use in internal combustion engine does not produce carbon pollution. Ammonia is a lot safer to handle and has more energy density than hydrogen. Ammonia is said to be safer than propane gas and as safe as gasoline.
Support system for ammonia distribution is ready, because farmers commonly use ammonia as fertilizer. The safety for storage and distribution for ammonia has already been matured for years. The production method has already perfected for many years. Ammonia distribution would not be a problem if all vehicles suddenly converted to use ammonia.
Current fossil fuel engine can be modified to use ammonia without many modifications. Ammonia can be used today in diesel engine, gasoline engine or even on fuel cell. This makes ammonia a very promising alternative that can be applied today.
With many promising feature of ammonia as fuel source alternative, it would be great if government can see the advantage of ammonia and start making supporting regulation for ammonia use today.
Source
Iowa Energy Center