energy loss converting water to hydrogen then back to water

mrwabba

i was doing a little thinking and have a pretty good idea but to see if it will even come close working i need to know how much energy loss is there converting water to hydrogen then back to water. using Electrolysis to split the water and a fuel cell to rejoin them back together. i know you cant get as much energy back as i put in just need to know the loss. in a percentage would work best.

Danger

Welcome to PF, Mrwabba. The efficiency of both processes depends upon how your approach them. There are different ways of doing both.

engineroom

If you used low cost electictiy to make the hydogen and then produced electricity for a higher cost you come out in front where it counts in the wallet.

Where I live night rate electicity is 8c/kWhr and day rate 22c/kWhr. If the efficency of the process was say 90% there is a way to make money. Each kilowatt hour of electricy would reep a nett return of 13c/kWhr.

Is it posiable to build a hydogen generator, storage cylinder and fuel cell relativly cheeply - might be worth building one for home use.