If we switch to hydrogen fuel, how do we know what all this extra h20 vapor wont have an impact on the climate?
Posted on 11 March 2009 under Global Warming by admin
yingyangtwins86 asked:
B/c people say Carbon is the root of all evil according to al gore. But i know its essential for plant life and needed green house gas.
B/c people say Carbon is the root of all evil according to al gore. But i know its essential for plant life and needed green house gas.
But I may not be a scientist but I feel there could be unforeseen climate changes caused by excess water vapor in the air.
So what do u think?
Hot Wii Games
13 Responses to “If we switch to hydrogen fuel, how do we know what all this extra h20 vapor wont have an impact on the climate?”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
March 14th, 2009 at 10:10 am
Mens Wear
Actually it will have a substantial effect on our environment. .
If you put that much water vapor into the atmosphere it will certainly have a substantial effect on the environment, particularly in areas with high concentrations of automobiles.
In fact it is entirely possible that the water vapor that is produced in the combustion of gasoline has a profound effect on the environmnet, particularly in our urban areas with high concentrations of automobiles.
Also hydrogen gas itself will have a profound effect on our environment.
Hydrogen is also a very difficult molecule to control. there will be many leaks of hydrogen gas to the atmosphere. That will certainly affect the environment.
March 16th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Hot Wii Games
Water vapor will not have an effect because the vapor is harmless. That little amount of water in the air will have no effect on the temperature or humidity of the planet.
Besides, if you know your facts, you’d know that humans produce so little emissions from vehicles now that we have close to no effect on the climate of the planet. You’ve heard that all the people’s CO2 emissions have caused “huge climate shifts” and “catastrophic changes in climate”… It’s all B.S. Humans account for about 3% of all CO2 emissions in the world. Only 0.6% is from vehicles. The rest is from fuel to heat buildings and stuff.
In reality, plants, volcanoes, decaying animals, etc. account for the rest of the CO2 emissions… in other words: NATURAL OCCURRENCES are responsible for CO2 emissions. NOT HUMANS.
So, if you take that into account, if cars start to emit water vapor with the very minuscule impact that they have in the environment, we won’t see any change in the climate.
March 17th, 2009 at 1:21 am
Hot Wii Games
I think that we don’t know much. Antarctic ice shows that the climate has undergone great change long before mankind had any influence. Oxygen levels were nearly double what they are today. Carbon dioxide levels too have been much different.
While it is very true that mankind has an impact on his environment, I believe that impact is unknown. Does that mean we should ignore pollution? No! It does mean that we should not exchange one bad situation for another. We honestly don’t know. Consider the pollution from pigs and cattle in the United States. Yeah…that’s a problem. But then what are we going to eat? Would the alternative be just as great a problem?
March 20th, 2009 at 7:18 am
Every thing you need for your own home bar
Good question! best i’ve seen in quite a while!
Yes water vapour is a green house gass and it will have a factor in this! But there is a upside to this! more water vapour could mean more humidity and that means more rain! or unstable rain patterns!
March 21st, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Every thing you need for your own home bar
There could be unforseen consequences, yes. And as Mike pointed out, cars today already emit enormous amounts of water vapor (slightly more than CO2 gas, in fact.)
C8H18 + 12.5 O2 —> 9 H2O + 8 CO2
It is very difficult however to measure global water vapor levels in the atmosphere since there is so much local variation.
March 22nd, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Hot Wii Games
If we switch to hydrogen, someone will still have to make the hydrogen by burning fossil fuels and hydrogen would be about 5 times as expensive as gasoline.
We could use nuclear or solar energy to make hydrogen, but that would make it even more expensive.
March 22nd, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Fun Games
What do I think?
Once we switch to hydrogen fueled vehicles, car bombs will be far more deadly.
March 23rd, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Romance Books
Because water vapor is a feedback, not a forcing.
This means water vapor cannot directly cause global warming. The amount of water vapor in the atmosphere depends on its temperature. You can emit as much water vapor as you want, but if the atmosphere doesn’t warm, it won’t hold any more, and the water vapor will simply fall back to the surface as precipitation.
Now, if the planet and atmosphere warm for some other reason (i.e. increased greenhouse effect), then the atmosphere can hold more water vapor, in which case global warming will increase (feedback).
But the amount of water vapor we emit has no impact on global warming.
March 25th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Hot Wii Games
Well, of course it may rain more in big cities…
March 28th, 2009 at 2:42 am
Ipod Super Site
Mike where did you get this idea that hydrogen is a greenhouse gas? edit: hmmm I noticed you edited your answer and deleted your comment about it not just being a greenhouse gas, but a most potent one at that!
Anyway, that aside, as Dana pointed out, the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere greatly depends on the temperature of the atmosphere… I don’t really need to expand on what he’s already stated.
There is no doubt that carbon dioxide affects surface temperatures, as a few opponents on YA have already pointed out, without carbon dioxide in the atmosphere i.e absorbing infrared radiation, the Earth’s surface would be somewhat cooler. This is why the greenhouse effect plays a crucial role on climate.
But if it is accepted then that carbon dioxide is an important greenhouse gas, then a little understanding of the global carbon cycle would equally show that any changes in the biological or geochemical carbon reservoirs will indeed affect the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmospheric reservoir.
Obviously there ARE other factors that affect climate too such as volcanic eruptions etc.. and in the longer term, continental drift , axial tilt of the Earth etc…
March 29th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
Visit Our Store
Water in the atmosphere is defined by the temperature and can’t rise above a certain level with simple falling as rain. On the other hand co2 can stay in the atmosphere for a century.
The lack of understanding of basic science principles by some on this site continues to amaze me.
“There will be many leaks of hydrogen gas to the atmosphere. that will certainly affect the climate.”
Oh dear, Atmospheric co2 is currently around 390ppm many deniers claim this is a tiny amount. Atmospheric Hydrogen is ~1ppm, the reason is simple h1 is simple to light in gas form in the atmosphere it simple dissipates to space.
March 31st, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Ipod Super Site
Well yes it would get a lot hotter because humidity retains several thousand times as much heat as Co2.
#
April 1st, 2009 at 10:39 am
Ipod Super Site
Hydrogen is made out of natural gas, by a process called “reforming”. The Carbon atoms are removed, leaving just hydrogen. The thing is, this carbon is combined with oxygen in the process, so it becomes CO2 anyway, but without doing any useful work. Hydrogen is harder to liquefy than nat. gas, and has a much lower energy density.
Hydrogen can be made by electrolyzing water, but it’s more wasteful still. especially if the electricity is produced by burning natural gas. Energy is wasted at each conversion, a lot of it. Electrolysis means ” to connect wires to each end of a tank of water, and plug them in” Of course, this will spin your electric meter very fast.
A car can be converted to burn natural gas for about $13,000. Natural gas fuel costs about half of what gasoline does, so it will pay for the conversion eventually. This is way cheaper than any electric or hydrogen car. If you drive alot, it’s cheaper than gasoline.
I bet the guys at those industrial gas places think its mighty funny when someone comes in to buy hydrogen for their car, thinking they are “saving the planet”. Of course, they could get their own “reformer”, and compressor, and not get laughed at.