Posted on 06/04/2010 7:39:12 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
:) Worth a shot.
The points made by the author are points I've been using for years when I hear libtards go on their "renewable energy" kicks.
Wind farms? Only when it's windy, and never near actual people.
Ethanol? Who ever said it's a good idea to start burning our food.
Biomass? There ain't enough landmass.
Solar? On average, it's unavailable 50% of the time.
They have conniptions when I tell them the only real long-term solution we have is nuclear fission. They really go nuts when I tell them the French are the best at it.
Tell that to the California Condors. Oh wait, you can't. The windmills finished them off.
Open-ocean farmed genetically engineered saltwater algae biofuels are the most likely long term solution. Petroleum originally comes from saltwater algae. We can grow all our own petroleum using less than 2% of the ocean surface. The land, water, and sunshine are free. The growing process creates a CO2 closed loop. The main danger is how to kill the superalgae if it starts growing uncontrollably. We could end up with the entire ocean covered with 20 feet of algae oil.
Hydrogen energy density is too low to be practical as a transportation fuel. And hydrogen spills go up into the atmosphere.
That Honda has a rated 280 miles on 4.1 kilos of hydrogen. That's better than gasoline. Even if the density is lower, the efficiency of the system is far higher. The average gasoline engine wastes over 70% of the energy contained in the gasoline.
What is the pressure of that much H2 in a half-trunk sized container on a hot summer day? How much is the fuel station's capital cost to store and dispense it? We're still going to need the ocean-grown super-algae to use sunlight to crack water into H2. Why not grow a fuel that is energy dense and easy to work with at room temperature, such as oil?
Actually geothermal is not limited to places close to volcanism. The earth gets very hot the deeper you go. Check out the hot dry rock geothermal concept:
http://www.lanl.gov/orgs/ees/ees11/geophysics/other/hdr.shtml
I know they have had a lot of technical hurdles getting this concept to work, but if they ever did it would be another cog in the energy solution.
5,000 PSI for the Honda. For reference, scuba tanks go over 3,000 PSI. Other hydrogen tanks go up to 10,000. Extensive testing has shown it to be quite safe.
Why not grow a fuel that is energy dense and easy to work with at room temperature, such as oil?
Because current methods to turn it into useful work are extremely inefficient and prone to breaking down. The fuel cell in that Honda is about three times as efficient as the average engine and has almost no moving parts except for the electric motors.
Like I said, there are different issues. One is where the power come from: renewable, nuke, algae-grown oil, etc. The other question is the best portable power source to make our cars run.
Gasoline is one way to store hydrogen. There is 64% more hydrogen in a gallon of gasoline than a gallon of pure liquid hydrogen. The inefficiency of compressing hydrogen negate the efficiency of burning it later in a fuel cell. With all its special handling requirements I just don't see pure H2 becoming a mainstream transportation fuel.
64% more hydrogen, but about a third of the efficiency. I think that negates the amount of hydrogen.
The inefficiency of compressing hydrogen negate the efficiency of burning it later in a fuel cell.
And with gasoline once you pull oil out of the ground it has to be refined, cracked down to what you want. Not too efficient either. Plus, hydrogen can be manufactured anywhere, no shipping necessary.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.