The difficulty of providing sufficient electricity where and when it is required, and the wish to conserve the power that is available at times when it is not needed, has motivated many attempts to find additional methods of storing energy.

A new method of hydrogen storage proposed by Richard Williams, Richard S. Crandall and Allen Bloom of the R.C.A. Laboratories, Princeton, New Jersey, has recently been reported (Appl. Phys. Lett., 1978, 33, (5), 381–383). They describe a series of reactions which starts with the use of surplus electricity for the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide in water to form formic acid in aqueous solution. This is easily stored and transported and may be used as a fuel, either by combustion or in a fuel cell. Alternatively when energy is required the formic acid may be catalytically decomposed using a standard palladium on carbon hydrogenation catalyst to give carbon dioxide and hydrogen.

While the process is clearly at an early stage of development the authors are encouraged by the efficiency they are obtaining.