WEBVTT - Hauling by Hydrogen

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<v Speaker 1>On the West coast of the United States. Enormous trucks

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<v Speaker 1>with an eighty thousand pound weight capacity are moving cargo

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<v Speaker 1>between Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles, enough

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<v Speaker 1>times to rack up two hundred miles of travel per day.

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<v Speaker 1>The kicker these trucks produce no local emissions. I'm Jonathan Strickland,

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<v Speaker 1>and this is tech stuff daily. The trucks are part

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<v Speaker 1>of Toyota's fuel cell initiative. Fuel cells rely upon a

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<v Speaker 1>chemical reaction between different elements that produces, among other things, electricity.

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<v Speaker 1>In this way, it's similar to a chemical battery, but

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<v Speaker 1>with fuel cells, you fill up or refuel the cell

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<v Speaker 1>with more of the elements to generate more electricity. It's

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<v Speaker 1>a system you can open up, rather than a battery

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<v Speaker 1>that is supposed to remain a closed system. The ingredients

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<v Speaker 1>that give the trucks their own are hydrogen and oxygen.

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<v Speaker 1>Hydrogen is the most plentiful element in the universe. Oxygen,

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<v Speaker 1>as you may recall, is one of those gases that's

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<v Speaker 1>really important to organic critters such as ourselves. Putting the

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<v Speaker 1>two together in the right combination creates good old H

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<v Speaker 1>two O water in other words, and so here we

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<v Speaker 1>have a power system that takes hydrogen and oxygen and

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<v Speaker 1>produces electricity, water, and heat. So what's actually going on

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<v Speaker 1>inside a fuel cell? You have a permeable membrane that

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<v Speaker 1>will allow hydrogen ions to pass through, but not electrons.

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<v Speaker 1>And ion is an atom that has either gained or

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<v Speaker 1>lost an electron, changing the net charge of the atom.

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<v Speaker 1>A special catalyst on the membrane facilitates this process with hydrogen,

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<v Speaker 1>stripping it of its electron and preventing it from passing

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<v Speaker 1>through this membrane. Since the hydrogen atom consists of only

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<v Speaker 1>one proton and one electron, that means we're left with

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<v Speaker 1>a proton, the positively charged subatomic particle. This particle can

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<v Speaker 1>pass through the membrane. On the other side of the

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<v Speaker 1>fuel cells are sygen atoms. Meanwhile, those electrons and the

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<v Speaker 1>hydrogen side of the fuel cell want to get away

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<v Speaker 1>from each other. This is Coolom's law. Like charges repel

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<v Speaker 1>one another and opposite charges attract, opening up a pathway

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<v Speaker 1>for the electrons to follow where they can reunite with

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<v Speaker 1>their proton buddies. Allows you to create a circuit put

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<v Speaker 1>an electrical load on that circuit, such as a motor

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<v Speaker 1>capable of providing enough force to move a big cargo truck,

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<v Speaker 1>and you can put those electrons to work. When they

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<v Speaker 1>reach the other side, you end up with water molecules,

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<v Speaker 1>two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen per molecule. Sounds great, right,

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<v Speaker 1>You have these big trucks hauling cargo around without generating

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<v Speaker 1>carbon dioxide or methane emissions or any other greenhouse gases

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<v Speaker 1>with the exception of water vapor. You're using what is

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<v Speaker 1>literally the most abundant source of fuel in the universe,

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<v Speaker 1>And unlike gasoline, you're not burning anything to produce power.

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<v Speaker 1>You're facilitating a chemical reaction. So if fuel cells can

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<v Speaker 1>generate all trical energy powering a motor, just like a

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<v Speaker 1>battery would, why aren't we all driving around in fuel

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<v Speaker 1>cell vehicles right now? What's the hold up? There are

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<v Speaker 1>actually several big challenges. Perhaps the biggest challenge is getting

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<v Speaker 1>hold of hydrogen. Yes, I said it's the most plentiful

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<v Speaker 1>element in the universe, and it's true, but it's also

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<v Speaker 1>really a friendly atom. Hydrogen just wants to buddy up

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<v Speaker 1>with all sorts of stuff, particularly carbon. You've probably heard

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<v Speaker 1>of hydrocarbons. What that means for us is that most

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<v Speaker 1>of the hydrogen we can get our hands on is

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<v Speaker 1>already locked up molecularly with other stuff. Now we can

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<v Speaker 1>free up that hydrogen so we can use it for

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<v Speaker 1>something else. But breaking molecular bonds requires energy. You could

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<v Speaker 1>easily end up spending more energy trying to create hydrogen

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<v Speaker 1>fuel than you'd be able to take advantage of once

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<v Speaker 1>you've fueled up your fuel cells. Would be a net

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<v Speaker 1>loss from an energy perspective, which means it would make

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<v Speaker 1>more sense to pursue some other form or means of

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<v Speaker 1>generating power. Another issue is economical. Let's say we found

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<v Speaker 1>a really efficient way to get hold of hydrogen, so

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<v Speaker 1>that energy issue isn't a problem, we'd still need to

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<v Speaker 1>build out an infrastructure that could support fleets of fuel

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<v Speaker 1>cell vehicles. We need hydrogen refueling stations, and those wouldn't

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<v Speaker 1>come cheap. The most efficient way to store hydrogen in

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<v Speaker 1>terms of space is in liquid form. You'd have to

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<v Speaker 1>get it down to minus four twenty three degrees fahrenheit

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<v Speaker 1>or minus two hundred fifty three degrees celsius for hydrogen

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<v Speaker 1>to turn into a liquid. That's just twenty kelvin over

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<v Speaker 1>absolute zero. You wouldn't just pour liquid hydrogen into your car, though,

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<v Speaker 1>for one thing, as soon as the hydrogen left its pressurized,

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<v Speaker 1>temperature controlled storage tank, it would boil and turn back

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<v Speaker 1>into gas. You'd fill up your fuel cell with a

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<v Speaker 1>special pump that could put the gas form of hydrogen

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<v Speaker 1>into the right pressure. A special connector between the fuel

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<v Speaker 1>cell vehicle and the pump would monitor the fuel needs precisely.

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<v Speaker 1>All of this would cost more money. Ultimately, we're talking

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<v Speaker 1>about an investment in the billions of dollars. There are

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<v Speaker 1>other considerations to make too. For example, while the cars

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<v Speaker 1>themselves would produce no local emissions, the process of harvesting

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<v Speaker 1>and transporting hydrogen might be a different story. Some of

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<v Speaker 1>the elements of fuel cells, such as the platinum catalysts,

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<v Speaker 1>are themselves rare and expensive. It's a big picture problem.

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<v Speaker 1>In the meantime, Toyota is testing these vehicles out in California,

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<v Speaker 1>and it may turn out that fuel cell vehicles are

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<v Speaker 1>the way to go in certain specialized applications such as shipping.

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<v Speaker 1>Other companies like Tesla are exploring electric vehicles that run

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<v Speaker 1>on battery power. No matter which strategy wins out, in

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<v Speaker 1>the end will see fewer local greenhouse gas emissions coming

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<v Speaker 1>from vehicles on the road. That's all for today. To

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<v Speaker 1>learn more about fuel cells and all other things tech,

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<v Speaker 1>subscribe to The Tech Stuff podcast. It's a long form

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<v Speaker 1>show that publishes twice a week and looks at all

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<v Speaker 1>sorts of tech topics. I'll see you against it really

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<v Speaker 1>won