Solar energy in progress and future research trends
Research and development needs
Industrial countries consider hydrogen as environmentally clean energy source hydrogen. In order to make further developments in the environmentally friendly solar-hydrogen energy source enhancement and research, the following main points must be considered.
1. it is necessary to invest on the research and development
of hydrogen energy technologies,
2. make widely known the transfer of these technologies,
3. establishment of appropriate industries, and
4. initiation of a durable and environmentally compatible energy system based-on solar-hydrogen.
Veziroglu [140] has suggested the following research points in the future for better solar-hydrogen energy prospects.
1. hydrogen production techniques coupled with solar and wind energy sources,
2. hydrogen transportation facilities through pipelines,
3. establishment and maintenance of hydrogen storage techniques,
4. development of hydrogen fuelled vehicles as buses, trucks, cars, etc.
5. fuel cell applications for decentralized power generation and vehicles,
6. research and development on hydrogen hydrides for hydrogen storage and air conditioning,
7. infrastructure development for solar-hydrogen energy,
8. economical considerations in any mass production, and finally,
9. environmental protection studies.
On the other hand, possible demonstrations and/or pilot projects include the following alternatives,
1. photovoltaic hydrogen production facility,
2. hydrogen production plants by wind-farms,
3. hydro power plant with hydrogen off-peak generators,
4. hydrogen community,
5. hydrogen house, and
6. hydrogen powered vehicles.
In order to achieve these goals, preliminary prerequisites are to have a data bank on hydrogen energy industry and on the production specifications and also prices are to be set-up. Another important and future promising technology for applying solar photon energy is the decomposition of water. This use is referred to as the ‘Solar-Hydrogen Energy System’ by Ohta [92] and Justi [68].
Photolysis does not mean water decomposition technically only by photon energy, but also any photochemical reaction used to obtain the desired products.
