What about using hydrocarbon fuels to produce hydrogen – doesnt this still produce greenhouse gas and other emissions? Why not just burn the natural gas?
There are much less polluting emissions formed by the reformation of natural gas than by burning it, although carbon dioxide production is about the same. The key thing is the energy conversion at the point of power production. If the hydrogen is burned in an internal combustion engine there is no real benefit, if the hydrogen is fed into a PEM fuel cell, with its much higher efficiencies, the amount of carbon dioxide produced can be much less.
