Your car is very likely to be running on gasoline blended with ethanol, a corn-based fuel, which has been touted recently as the answer to the dilemma of ever-increasing oil prices and emissions of greenhouse gases. There is a great debate about whether growing crops for fuel is an efficient use of the land and is as environmentally friendly as advocates of the technology would have us believe. While this debate rages, ethanol has been considered as a viable fuel for cars. However, it has been used in this capacity for a long time without optimization, making it questionable that it has a long term future as the answer to energy problems. Hydrogen gas in cars can offer improved fuel economy, and is a more recently available option in this field.



The use of hydrogen gas in cars however has seemingly countless benefits over both ethanol and gasoline fuels. It is a much cleaner burning fuel that leave no carbon footprint as its only emission is water vapor which is comprised of mostly nitrogen which make up over seventy five percent of the air we breathe. It also offers roughly two-thirds better fuel economy at about half the price.

The two major setbacks of changing over to hydrogen gas in cars are the system within the car and fuel availability. If you do not live within close proximity to a hydrogen generation plant (and who does ?), chances are there are probably no stations where you can purchase commercially produced hydrogen to fuel your car with.

The process of generating large amounts of hydrogen on board the vehicle for burning in place of gasoline is still facing some technological limitations limiting use of the technology on the open road. Some auto manufacturers that plan to offer fully hydrogen-powered vehicles are also working on producing home hydrogen gas fueling stations. The home hydrogen fueling station has the potential to not only fuel your car but also power your home as well, offering tremendous saving both financially and environmentally.

Converting your gasoline-powered vehicle to a hydrogen fuel hybrid will not only reduce your vehicle's emission but will also greatly increase your fuel economy, and there are various methods available which you can use to accomplish this conversion. One such kit helps with gas savings by taking the electricity that is produced by your vehicle and adding small amounts of hydrogen fuel. These kits can only produce small amounts. The prices for these items can cost roughly a couple hundred dollars for easy to find parts you put together yourself to full scale equipment that cost several thousands of dollars and require professional installation.

Large-scale commercial production of hydrogen fuel shows signs of expanding, and it will likely become more widely available. This will allow us to begin seeing innovative new methods of using hydrogen gas to fuel vehicles. some prototypes exist in the major car manufacturers research facilities, but they are purely research cases. No commercial prospects yet exist. Until that day, backyard mechanics and car enthusiasts can experiment with putting together their own version of a hydrogen gas hybrid using a few easy-to-find parts and water. You can find instructions for this so-called "water4gas" kit at various websites.

Hydrogen gas technology has been a focus of governments, energy companies, auto manufacturers and backyard mechanics alike, when all these groups get their findings out there it is going to allow for great leaps in hydrogen technology.