South Korea, the Leader of Hydrogen-Power

Photo Credit: Dicky (cc) @ Flickr

When some of my friends who live outside of Korea visit, they are often impressed with the beautiful night scene of Seoul. When I check their Facebook pages later, I see tons of beautiful night view photos.

Powering all of these lights requires quite a lot of electricity but in the near future, the majority of these lights might be powered by eco-friendly hydrogen fuel.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to invest in hydrogen technology and build 29 power plants by 2014. The alternative energy produced from these plants will provide enough electricity to power 400,000 households. In the long run it should also reduce energy costs and provide a consistent source of energy in emergency.

Hydrogen fuel is gaining popularity in many countries as it can be used to power homes, buildings, cars, airplanes, boats and even small electric devices. Hydrogen is the most abundant element on Earth but extracting pure hydrogen requires a costly manufacturing process.

Reducing the cost of hydrogen production could be a game changer for Korea in the future. In Korea we import nearly all of our energy. We have no domestic oil reserves so we have to import all of our petroleum, coal and other fossil fuels. This is why Seoul government is encouraging companies to put their concerted resources toward hydrogen.