Hydrogen fuel cells move closer to reality

The Globe and Mail ^ | Mar. 11, 2004 | Canadian Press

[calcowgirl]

Mr. Rasul says he expects to meet with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger next month about beginning the $200-million project, a key piece of infrastructure needed to make fuel cell-powered vehicles practical.

Another State priority, no doubt.

[Threepwood]

Christ speed the day! No need for Middle eastern oil would make the work a lot more secure. Even if we could reduce the need for it, this technology would be worth developing.

[Restorer]

I get so tired of this.

Hydrogen is not a fuel source. It is a potentially attractive non-polluting way of storing energy.

Think of it as a highly efficient battery.

[bolobaby]

Screw OPEC BUMP

[bolobaby]

Fine. Hydrogen is a battery. Put a nuclear reactor on an offshore rig and pump the stuff out a massive rate by electrolyzing the seawater. Whatever it takes to make OPEC cry.

[Jacquerie]

I guess I'll keep my '98 Ranger a few more years.

[SierraWasp]

"...to make fuel cell-powered vehicles practical."

He just wants ta blow one fifth of a billion dollars worth of smoke up the musclebound Governor's A$$!!!

Now we can't get anymore bondage for the nuke plants needed to make the danged hydrogen!!!

I ass-u-me you posted this for laughs, right?

[zoyd]

One crucial reservation about hydrogen is whether it's even economical when the full-cycle cost of producing and distributing it are factored in.

But eventually it's hoped hydrogen will be made from water through electrolysis, which currently takes more energy than it produces.

Keep this in mind.

[SierraWasp]

"Put a nuclear reactor on an offshore rig and pump the stuff out a massive rate by electrolyzing the seawater."

We CAN'T, NOW!!! We just maxed out the CA credit card and can't borrow the money to build the stupid nuke that the NIMBY's and EnvironMentalCases won't let us build anaways... Get it? WASS=We Are So Screwed!!!

[JmyBryan]

A question for all the demolition folks.

I know this is speculative. But generally speaking, how hard would it be for a terrorist to ignite an H powered vehicle? How big a boom will one get?

Thanks in advance.

[RayChuang88]

If you explode hydrogen, the only problem is that the force of the explosion will go only one way: straight up. And remember, hydrogen fuel cells is NOT liquid hydrogen, so if there is a fire it really won't last that long. Compare this against gasoline and natural gas--if it explodes it will explode in every direction with terrifying results.

[Restorer]

But eventually it's hoped hydrogen will be made from water through electrolysis, which currently takes more energy than it produces.

Uhh, given the laws of nature, it will always take more energy than is produced, as long as you're dealing with chemical processes.

To get more energy from water than you put in would require a Mr. Fusion, which may be a few years down the road.

[JmyBryan]

Thanks - did not know any of that.

[RayChuang88]

You're welcome.

By the way, one of the very scariest things around is the potential for someone to hijack a ship loaded with liquified natural gas and detonate it at a city port. The force of the explosion from that much LNG would equal that of a 5 kT atomic bomb. (eek!)

[FastCoyote]

"But eventually it's hoped hydrogen will be made from water through electrolysis, which currently takes more energy than it produces. "

Yup, I plan on inventing an electrolysis process that TAKES LESS energy than it produces. That's called 'thinking outside the box'. You just take a little starter flogiston and then like yeast, pretty soon you have more hydrogen than you know what to do with!

Please invest in my company, NOW!

[Voltage]

I would prefer to put the nuclear reactor in my Excersion, then I would have sufficient power to plow my driveway.

If I generate hydrogen in the process it would be a side benefit.

[djreece]

marking

[B.O. Plenty]

WASS???....no we aren't....we are temporarily stymied that's all. Right now there is plenty of gas...and it is still relatively cheap. When we start running out of gas, we the people will suffer first. The corporate and government people will still have enough gas to do what they want to do. Bill Gates, other billionaires and government don't really give a rat's ass what gas costs...but when gas starts to run out and the muckety-mucks can't get gas for their G-5's is when things will change fast. Environmentalists will be swept aside like ants. ANWAR and Santa Barbra will have so many oil wells they will look like pin cushions......and hydrogen power will take off like a shot. Everyone will be amazed at how fast hydrogen becomes a viable source of power.

It is one thing for us varlets to suffer, muckety muck suffering is something else.

[EEDUDE]

"But eventually it's hoped hydrogen will be made from water through electrolysis, which currently takes more energy than it produces."

It may be a clean fuel, but somewhere there has to be a reactor, a coal or oil fueled plant or some other energy source to produce it. Those are all unacceptable to most environmentalists. They just move the pollution somewhere else.

Liquid hydrogen is a very explosive fuel, unless it is stored in some type of matrix.

It is also not a high energy density fuel. It will take a lot of it to replace petroleum based fuels.

Don't hold your breath waiting for this technology to be commercially available for the masses.

I've spent a lot of time designing control systems for natural gas engines, and they are extremely clean, but suffer from low energy density fuel, and a lack of natural gas "filling station".

They are primarily purchased for UPS, airport shuttles, and city buses.

I really don't think hydrogen is a realistic option, but I sure would like to present my middle finger to the Arab oil cartel!