What is Digg?19 Comments
- LordLucless, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9The main barrier to the "hydrogen economy" as I understand it isn't this technology; rather, it's the manufacture of hydrogen. Hydrogen isn't like oil or coal; it's not just sitting there waiting to be mined. It has to be manufactured, and this takes energy - more energy than is actually in the hydrogen. For this reason, hydrogen is more of a transport mechanism than an an actual energy source.
For a sustainable energy economy, you're still going to be looking at your renewable energy sources - solar, hydro, wind, tidal, geothermal, etc - to actually produce the energy to generate the hydrogen. The real effort to get a sustainable energy economy under way needs to go into establishing these sort of energy installations, and researching ways to increase their efficiency. The best fuel cell in the world isn't going to do any good if it still takes coal to produce the hydrogen. - GusTurbo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+99 trillion dollars, eh? Exaggerate much?
- Modiga, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5One way the hydrogen can be produced is through a type of algae. Simply bung a load of algae in a long thin polymer tube, add water and place in the desert where there is a lot of sunlight and you get large amounts of hydrogen produced. The main downside though is the tendency for the algae to die from the hydrogen yield they produce.
- kartack, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4While I agree with you on the whole Hydrogen isn't an energy source only energy transport mechanism thing, I still think this is a useful technology. Anything that makes the whole "Hydrogen Economy" more economical, is good in my books. If, according to the article, the price of platinum is $45/gram when it isn't part of the core of our economy, how expensive will it get if it were to become so centrally important. Clearly though this is only one piece of a very large puzzle, not the silver bullet.
- exobyte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Actually, lithium ion has pretty much peaked out; we won't see it hold much more power. This was on digg in the past month. I think the capacity was supposed to hit the theoretical limit within a year.
- bungimail, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Hydrogen is a crappy solution. It is not an energy source, it is a storage medium. However why not just use batteries as a storage medium. Its simpler. Electricity is a better way to transport energy than hydrogen. You can transport it over long distances and you don't have to do needless double conversions. It can also be transported nearly instanteously. Electric motors are also fairly efficient. The only problem is better battery technology. But battery technology is getting better thanks to lithium ion technology used in mobile devices. The only other thing you need is a source of electricity. Nuclear fission breader reactors are a pretty good source of electricity.
- exobyte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2So if cobalt is used for fuel cells, this is primarily battery research.
- newbill123, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Really just a "Witches Brew" article. For example:
"Nightshade: The key to more powerful spells" - Witches
"Echanacia: The new key to better life!" - Homeopathic and New Agers
"Rhyming: The key to a smarter preschooler!" - Goal obsessed parents
"Gold plated connectors: The key to better sound!" - High end audiophiles
"Metrics: The key to more money!" - Board members
"Vista: The key to employee productivity!" - IT departments - LogicallyGenius, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2so what energy will they convert into hydrogen ?
- repins, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I cannot wait to hear the complaints if a US company makes a huge break through on Hydrogen Fuel cells and then tries to actually make money by patenting their technology and not just giving it away.
- sworoc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Hate to tell you buddy, but Bush has spent more money funding research on alternative energy sources than any other President in the history of the United States, and that is fact.
Granted the dollar is worth less than any point in history, but inflation will do that no matter what. Also it has become a more pressing issue at finding alternative energy sources, so that will spur research.
Still, you can't bash Bush unless you know the facts. Don't bother responding, I simply made my point and now I exit. - bowe, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2The hydrogen economy is a farce put on by major manufacturers/oil companies to milk the gasoline market for all it's worth. A hydrogen car is simply an electric car with an inefficient fuel cell. The thing about fuel cells is that they need a fuel source, which is perfect if you want to keep fueling stations with a special controlled fuel, all the while charging exorbitant fuel costs. If we are going to use electric cars why don't we use practical energy sources and technology? Nuclear, Hydro, Wind, Solar. Advanced battery and capacitor technology. That is where we should be spending our money. Not on a pipe dream like the "hydrogen economy"
- exobyte, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Pretty much. In fact, given hydrogen and coal, oil can by synthesized, albeit with a loss of efficiency.
- addicted68098, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Hydrogen seems inefficent, I would say making a car with a battery about half the size of a hydrogen tank would be better.
- exobyte, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Does anyone know why people still promote the "hydrogen economy" and hydrogen when it doesn't really solve any problems; we have to get it from somewhere, just like oil? It seems like the most promising scenario is a fuel cell battery for use in electric cars, but calling it an economy makes hydrogen sound more like a drop in replacement for oil.
The hydrogen economy is just a varation of the oil eeconomy. Replacing oil with an alcohol suffers from the same primary drawbacks as hydrogen. - nufoto, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Cool...like to see it in Action!
- sparc, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3Bush then perhaps may not have profitted if that were the case... ??I seem to recall he has some interest in the oil fields..
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -10/+7Just imagine of the Bush administration hadn't trown away 9 trillion on this 'war' on terror, and had in fact invested it (or what ever part of it that wouldn't have sent the US into the red) on new fuel technologies like fuel cells and renuable power.
By now we could have told the middle east to get lost and keep their nasty stinky oil.
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