Cheaper, Cleaner Hydrogen Without Platinum 295
keithww writes "Looks like the hydrogen economy may have gotten a whole lot cheaper. Wisconsin team engineers gas from biomass
using common metals of tin, nickel, and aluminum instead of platinum. This looks like a good way to get rid of biowaste also." Of course, there's still a long way to go before the automotive industry is using it, but it is good news nonetheless.
Never underestimate the power of a lobbyist (Score:4, Interesting)
Carbon nanorods (Score:5, Interesting)
cycle (Score:4, Interesting)
rus
Re:cycle (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Never underestimate the power of a lobbyist (Score:2, Interesting)
The reason we use Petrochemicals instead of the green method of your choice is because we - the world - have a huge infrastructure in place to provide for this. If you want to start your own free/green energy distribution then fine, go ahead, the oil companies won't stand in your way but you face a simple uphill battle of fighting what is cheap and available right now.
This is like those ads you see in the back of science magazines, saying they have plans for a 348mpg carburator and the only reason you don't know about it is because the oil companies are suppressing the technology. Uhm, whatever. Maybe, it just doesn't work for shit, which is why you are stuck advertising it next to geek personals.
Or you could just store it as part of a liquid (Score:5, Interesting)
Pure hydrogen fuel cells sound like a great idea, no pollution but water.
Except then you come to the problem of storage and transportation and have to spend a truly massive fortune on research and development like this, and, once that's done you also have the job of upgrading the entire energy distribution infrastructure which oddly enough will also be rather expensive.
But hey, go ahead, it's a free market, someone else will come along with much cheaper solution.
Re:Ozone? (Score:3, Interesting)
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/TECH/science/06/12/hyd rogen.ozone.ap/
Where I went wrong was that sheep farts cause global warming, not destruction of ozone.
48 hours... before what? (Score:3, Interesting)
Raney-NiSn can perform for at least 48 hours... before what? Before it has to be replaced? Before it has to rested? What happens after 48 hours?
What is the process's efficiency (Score:4, Interesting)
Stop recycling! (Score:5, Interesting)
No, I'm not kidding.
Global warming may be due to humanity's CO2 emissions, or solar radiation, or something we haven't even discovered yet, but it's something detrimental to our society and it'd be nice to do something about it. Well, the best way is to stop burning stuff, obviously. On the other hand, our society runs on our burning stuff. That's not good.
Well, the least we can do is stop burning stuff that gives us the least benefit. That, my friends, is garbage. Waste incinerators, even if they provide cogeneration, would run at a loss if they weren't paid extra by people who don't want the stuff they burn. So it's not such a big deal to NOT burn the garbage and burn something more efficient instead.
Further, while there are some materials it may make sense to recycle, when it comes to plastics, you're better off burying it. Every bit of plastic you DON'T recycle is another quantity of oil that will never be burned, but will instead go back to sequestering carbon under the ground.
Re:Never underestimate the power of a lobbyist (Score:5, Interesting)
Course, I fancy an air powered car (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.cyber-media.com/aircar/
Even less polluting than a hydrogen powered vehicle, the only exhaust is clean air. Ironically, the air is cleaner going out than going in because it has to be filtered before reaching the engine.
Re:Stop recycling! (Score:5, Interesting)
Burning things that have been produced by recently living organisms is not too bad, it's just another part of the normal carbon cycle.
The problem with fossil fuels is that they are re-introducing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere that has been removed from the natural carbon cycle...
An interesting question is how efficient can we make energy production based on plant farming, which is an indirect way of utilizing solar energy - plants transform carbon dioxide (+ water + sunlight) into hydrocarbons, hydrocarbons are processed into non-fossil fuel and utilized - can this be more efficient than solar panels? I believe photosynthesis is a pretty efficient process, especially for fast growing plants, but this is something that hasn't (AFAIK) been tried on a large scale.
Re:Never underestimate the power of a lobbyist (Score:3, Interesting)
H2 is another energy market to be R&D'ed, tapped and then optimized for profit.
Exxon-Mobil is working GM and Toyota to use gasoline and methanol with fuel cells to avoid some of the complications with using just H2.
And in the industry, there is already a sense that they need to adapt in order to survive. When a former Saudi oil minister and petroleum consultant says..."Thirty years from now there will be a huge amount of oil - and no buyers. Oil will be left in the ground. The Stone Age came to an end, not because we had a lack of stones, and the oil age will come to an end not because we have a lack of oil."
Fuel-cell motor technology will have a dramatic impact on the oil market, he predicts. "This is coming before the end of the decade and will cut gasoline consumption by almost 100 per cent. Imagine a country like the United States, the largest consuming nation, where more than 50 per cent of their consumption is gasoline. If you eliminatethat, what will happen?" Saudi Arabia, he says, "will have serious economic difficulties".
Re:The day this goes through... (Score:3, Interesting)
Recently it's been determined that Standard Oil before its breakup was actually selling its products for fair prices, amazingly enough. It's not clear whether MS prices for Windows and Office are fair, but it's pretty clear that their price for IE (i.e., free) was unfair at the time.
Microsoft has been convicted of violating antitrust law, yet the court was unwilling to do anything about it. If you or I did something that hurt fewer people to a lesser extent, we'd be in jail. Sigh.
Some one needs to... (Score:1, Interesting)
Like Off-Shore Power Boat Racing, or anything really.
That might kick in some more research dollars.
do you know why are they called 'energy companies' (Score:3, Interesting)
The largest source of hydrogen today is the very same companies that sell you gas. You will still be filling your hydrogen car at a Shell station.
Re:hows it work? (Score:2, Interesting)
Way behind the times, fellas (Score:3, Interesting)