Blatant Reality

There is a lot of talk now-a-days about how hydrogen fuel cell cars are going to be the newest and best thing of the future to help stop global warming and such. The whole idea of the this new fuel cell idea seems brilliant when you first look at it because the proposed source of hydrogen would be one of the most abundant molecules on earth (water) and the only emissions of these vehicles would be water vapor.

However, the scientists that are all up in arms about how global warming are the very ones that seem to be missing a very key fact about the whole greenhouse gas deal. Contrary to what you have learned, via the media or in school, water vapor is actually the number one greenhouse gas.

Water vapor in the troposphere is the biggest contributor to greenhouse gas warming.

Following water vapor, the next highest greenhouse gas contributor is methane with carbon dioxide a distant third.

Now, you would think that if water vapor is THE biggest contributor to greenhouse gas warming, we wouldn’t want to put any more into the environment than we already have. Yet environmentalist are constantly proclaiming hydrogen fuel cell cars as “zero-emission” vehicles.

Unlike many of the hybrid and “green” cars currently on the market, hydrogen cars offer the promise of zero emission technology, where the only byproduct from the cars is water vapor. Current fossil-fuel burning vehicles emit all sorts of pollutants such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide, ozone and microscopic particulate matter. Hybrids and other green cars address these issues to a large extent but only hydrogen cars hold the promise of zero emission of pollutants. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that fossil-fuel automobiles emit 1 ½ billion tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere each year and going to hydrogen-based transportation would all but eliminate this.

It’s weird how the EPA supports hydrogen fuel cell technology when water vapor is such a major factor in the greenhouse gas warming.

The overlaps complicate things, but it’s clear that water vapour is the single most important absorber (between 36% and 66% of the greenhouse effect), and together with clouds makes up between 66% and 85%. CO₂ alone makes up between 9 and 26%, while the O₃ and the other minor GHG absorbers consist of up to 7 and 8% of the effect, respectively. The remainders and uncertainties are associated with the overlaps which could be attributed in various ways that I’m not going to bother with here. Making some allowance (+/-5%) for the crudeness of my calculation, the maximum supportable number for the importance of water vapour alone is about 60-70% and for water plus clouds 80-90% of the present day greenhouse effect.

Man, if water vapor is such a big contributor now with us just burning fuel products, imagine how big of a contributor it will be if we intentionally make it through “zero-emission” hydrogen cars.

I know there are those of you out there that will tell me that our potential affect on the water cycle will be miniscule and you may very well be right. But if you use this argument, don’t expect me to listen to you when you start going on about how we are the cause of global warming because of our carbon emissions. If we can affect the global climate in one aspect than we can surly affect it in another.

So even after that rant, I’m going to shock you a little. I’m actually in favor of hydrogen based fuel cell technology. The reason for this is that if the fact that these cars aren’t technically “zero-emission” is recognized, then things can be done to fix it. Things such as a way to capture and condense the vapor then release it as a liquid would be just one suggestion. The potential for a virtually limitless fuel source is just too good to pass up.

Anyways, I’m not a scientist, but if you are, feel free to chip in your two sense worth/tear this article to pieces in the comment section.