Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

homestead - Re: [Homestead] Peak Oil

homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Homestead mailing list

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Peak Oil
  • Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 08:15:22 -0700

I'm still waiting to hear any reason whatsoever, other than the fact that Al Gore said so, for why fuel cells are the least bit better than the hydrogen internal combustion engine, first conceived (if not built) around 1900. His failed administration spent millions developing a hybrid car, just like a Prias that runs on hydrogen, at Livermore Labs. Does anyone know about it but me?

This illustrates the main problem in electing people who majored in "government" in college (and not well at that), in that they don't know a damn thing. The amount of energy you can get from one gram of hydrogen by combining it with oxygen hasn't changed and will not change, and there are Diesel engines with efficiencies of around 60% to put it to good use. And the "wasted" energy isn't really wasted, since it's used to heat the car.

However the biggest scam is not the fuel cells themselves, but the on-board reformer. This would allow you to continue to run on the usual hydrocarbon fuels, but don't ask where the carbon went.
Nuclear reactors can produce hydrogen from waste heat, but if it became popular we could have hydrogen as the main product. The reactor then does not require a steam engine and a generator, since all it does is heat up some chemicals.

Bill

Someone wrote:


In my view our best hope is hydrogen fuel cells for
energy storage and solar / wind / nuclear to generate
it, at least so far







Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page