Potential Environmental Impact of a Hydrogen Economy on the Stratosphere
Tracey K. Tromp,1 Run-Lie Shia,1 Mark Allen,2 John M. Eiler,1 Y. L. Yung1*
The widespread use of hydrogen fuel cells could have hitherto unknown environmental impacts due to unintended emissions of molecular hydrogen, including an increase in the abundance of water vapor in the stratosphere (plausibly by as much as 1 part per million by volume). This would cause stratospheric cooling, enhancement of the heterogeneous chemistry that destroys ozone, an increase in noctilucent clouds, and changes in tropospheric chemistry and atmosphere-biosphere interactions.
1 California Institute of Technology, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
2 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: [email protected]
Volume 300, Number 5626, Issue of 13 Jun 2003, pp. 1740-1742.
Copyright © 2003 by The American Association for the Advancement of Science. All rights reserved.
