[templar]

ITM Power is also building a couple of hydrogen home prototypes. So besides refueling your hydrogen car in your garage, you'll also be able to heat your home, cook your meals and run hot water due to this electrolysis technology.

[TheAntiDoomer]

http://www.examiner.com/x-12808-Auto-Br ... -Maybe-not

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'P')aul Smith, was cogitating over hydrogen power’s shortcomings—storage, safety, refueling infrastructure—one day as he loaded up his car’s CD player. Zap! In a bolt of inspiration he realized he had come up with a safe and easy to transport storage system for hydrogen. This takes the form of hydride compact discs, where the hydrogen molocules ‘bond’ to the substrate of the CDs. A laser ‘reads’ them, releasing the energy to power a vehicle for ranges of up to 300 miles, via fuel cell or even a modified internal combustion engine, like BMW has been running for over a decade.

[vision-master]

Perfect, we are saved!

Still, what powers the hydrogen power source?

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')here are nightmares associated with the acquisition and distribution of hydrogen that could kill this dream in its infancy. Despite the fact that hydrogen is found just about everywhere, it doesn't travel alone. And separating it from other elements, such as oxygen, requires processes that also use energy.

And where does that energy normally come from? It is produced by burning fossil fuels — the stuff we're trying to get away from — in processes that use more energy than the extracted hydrogen is likely to produce. That's called a net energy loser, and until someone solves that problem hydrogen power isn't going to go anywhere.

[ian807]

Hydrogen isn't particularly efficient as a carrier of power, but here's the deal.

If electricity is cheap enough, and abundant enough, we can use it, inefficient as it is.

This is possible via a number of methods, but probably the easiest and cheapest method is hydro power. We have a lot of streams and rivers in the USA that could be exploited for power in ecologically benign ways (It doesn't always take a dam, fellas). If we were to fully take advantage of this medium tech solution, we could have a lot of local, cheap electricity, suitable for converting water to hydrogen on the spot.

We have a plethora of solutions to power issues. We probably are just too stupid and disorganized to see, understand and implement them.

Declining energy resources aren't a failure of technology. It's a failure of people. The Mayans and Romans had solutions too. They just didn't use them.

[Tyler_JC]

Peak Oil is a liquid fuel problem, not an energy problem.

If this fellow has indeed figured out a cheap, efficient way to use hydrogen as a transport fuel, it will mitigate many of the effects of oil depletion.

[cephalotus]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ian807', 'H')ydrogen isn't particularly efficient as a carrier of power, but here's the deal.

If electricity is cheap enough, and abundant enough, we can use it, inefficient as it is.

This is possible via a number of methods, but probably the easiest and cheapest method is hydro power. ...

[TheDude]

Lol I love the Onion.

Hydrogen on compact discs? If only there were a way to maximize the volume of storage...you know, a tank or something. I get nothing searching for the company and the DOE, either; nothing in their press release section as of yet. Actual vehicles still set you back something fierce, too; Riversimple promise you "only" $315/month, for instance - for only 20 years! Which equates to $75.6k USD.

We had a thread back when about boron hydride storage, too. Dumping a bunch of flakes into a tank makes mucho more sense than fabricating discs, no?

[ripper]

People keep saying that hydrogen cars are dead, yet the major automakers say otherwise. GM, BMW, Honda are all rolling out more hydrogen cars. And now Daimler has stated they will start production on 200 F-Cell B-Class fuel cell cars in 2009 to roll out in early 2010.

http://www.motorauthority.com/blog/1034 ... ass-f-cell

[cephalotus]

BMW, maybe the biggest promotor of hydrogen drives now shows a plug in electro- diesel (sic!) sports car.
Unthinkable only 5 years ago...

http://www.spiegel.de/auto/aktuell/0,15 ... 49,00.html

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cephalotus', 'B')MW, maybe the biggest promotor of hydrogen drives now shows a plug in electro- diesel (sic!) sports car.
Unthinkable only 5 years ago...

http://www.spiegel.de/auto/aktuell/0,15 ... 49,00.html

[TheAntiDoomer]

http://www.physorg.com/news170007996.html

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'R')esearchers at the Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Science, a joint institute of SLAC and Stanford University, have produced a hydrogen-rich alloy that could provide insight into the properties of metallic hydrogen, according to a study published in the August 17 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The work is a step toward materials with revolutionary implications for energy science, enabling lossless power transmission, next-generation particle accelerators and even magnetic levitation.

[TheAntiDoomer]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1 ... -fuel.html

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'E')very drop of water is stuffed with the greenest of fuels, hydrogen, but getting it out is a challenge. A new material raises the prospect of doing so using noise pollution – from major roads, for example.

A team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison made crystals of zinc oxide that, when immersed in water, absorb vibrations and develop areas of strong negative and positive charge. These charges rip apart nearby water molecules, releasing hydrogen and oxygen gas.

"This is like a free lunch," says lead researcher Huifang Xu. "You are getting energy from the environment just like solar cells capture energy from the sun."

[efarmer]

This is indeed very much like free lunch. And yes, by golly it makes me as corny
as 5 hours of Three Stooges reruns.

You have shattered the old "there is no free lunch" axiom and solved our energy
conundrum in one awesome post.

I am now sitting down to enjoy my free lunch on the back deck, with zinc oxide
on my nose to prevent sunburn, a big bag of corn chips, and a tumbler of ice
water with my radio turned on to my favorite rock and roll station.

Jeez, with all this loud sound, and zinc oxide on my nose, I hope I can steal
some quick sips of ice water before it all turns into gaseous hydrogen and
oxygen on me.

Get thee behind me Malthus!

[cipi604]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')hey showed that ultrasonic vibrations under water cause the fibres to bend...
Xu says that lab tests suggested the material can convert 18 per cent of the energy it absorbs from vibration into energy locked up in hydrogen gas

[efarmer]

Yeah, Pstarr, but did you experience a little kernel or two towards making
you corny? Check your stalk, you never know...

[crude_intentions]

Remember to use your crystal power responsibly you don't want to end up like the Atlanteans

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he Atlanteans were the original discoverers of the powers of quartz crystal. They understood the unique electrical properties of quartz and were able to harness these natural oscillations in ways that we are only beginning to understand today. These crystals were not only used for healing but were also used to store information and energy. They were used to send the human voice and images over long distances just like modern day television. Atlantis was a highly technologically developed civilization that came to a sudden cataclysmic end 40,000 years ago, due to the misuse of these powerful crystals.

After spending many hours researching the ancient legends and documents pertaining to the time of Atlantis, Life Technology™ have rediscovered the secret of The Atlantean Power Crystal™.

[SilentRunning]

1 ounce of pure gold says that "breakthru" will provide less than 0.1% of human energy needs in 2020.

[PrestonSturges]

Crystals made of pixie dust. All the flavor, half the calories, and it fights tooth decay.