Where will our energy come from in the future?

Could it come from hydrogen?

hydrogen

Hydrogen gas can be used as a fuel to power cars.

Unlike fossil fuels, hydrogen doesn’t produce polluting gases when it burns, just water.

So it’s much better for the environment.

However, hydrogen gas needs to be extracted from water, which is an expensive process.

And the gas can be dangerous, as it catches fire and explodes easily.

A safer option for the future might be microscopic algae.

algae

In the right conditions, these tiny green organisms grow so quickly that they double their mass in just one day.

They contain a lot of natural oils that we can use as a fuel.

But to provide us with enough energy, we would need to grow a lot of algae.

Some scientists say we should look to the Moon for our future energy needs.

the Moon

Solar panels work well on Earth, but they would work even better on the Moon.

Earth’s atmosphere blocks some of the Sun’s light reaching the ground.

But as the Moon does not have an atmosphere, any solar panels there would receive more sunlight.

The solar energy could then be beamed to Earth.

This technology still needs a lot of money and research to make it possible.

But perhaps our best future energy source has yet to be invented.

Could that inventor be you?

hydrogen gas
algae
solar panels