• £1m grant for fuel cell company
    6 replies, posted
[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/uk-england-merseyside-12465951[/url]
The hydrogen still comes from natural gas, which is a limited resource. I don't see why they don't sell home kits which use solar pannels to power the electrolysis of water to obtain hydrogen, it'd be a renewable source of fuel from a renewable source of energy, what's not to like?
[QUOTE=E1025;28074688]The hydrogen still comes from natural gas, which is a limited resource. I don't see why they don't sell home kits which use solar pannels to power the electrolysis of water to obtain hydrogen, it'd be a renewable source of fuel from a renewable source of energy, what's not to like?[/QUOTE] This is true but it also states that unlike gasoline, Hydrogen can be produced as well as harnessed. Obviously for the moment using natural gas to produce the hydrogen is the cheapest and simplist (but not long term) solution. But in the future when alternate means of acquiring hydrogen are necessary or more desirable, it's as simple as getting the hydrogen from alternate, produced means instead of trying to figure out how to power things with a completely different type of energy resource. And I have a feeling if this takes off, methods of producing hydrogen without the use of natural gas will get cheaper and easier in the future.
I agree with KorJax. Also, there are many benefits of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles over mains-charged battery ones too. To mention a few, they are refuelled in a minute or so, not recharged in a few hours, they are most probably a lot lighter (don't have to carry around several hours worth of batteries) and they run on a fuel that can be produced from renewable sources easily, unlike the electricity which comes through mains power which to make renewable would require a complete overhaul of the country's electricity grid. Personal opinion, battery-powered cars are an eco-gimmick, fuel-cell cars are the way to go and any money put into developing them is a great investment in mankind's future. Edit: Forgot to mention, fuel cells generate electricity directly, so they could be used for generators in all sorts of places too without having to use a dynamo.
Electricity powered by power plants/nuclear reactors is many times more efficient energy than that produced inside the engine of a car. This article gives me more hope for the future. :buddy:
[QUOTE=SweetSwifter;28076647]Electricity powered by power plants/nuclear reactors is many times more efficient energy than that produced inside the engine of a car. This article gives me more hope for the future. :buddy:[/QUOTE] actually the net energy efficiency from a power plant is roughly the same as an Internal combustion engine. you should probably look at such figures before you making statements like that. for people saying that battery powered cars are "eco-gimmicks" and fuel cell cars are the way to go: there are many problems with fuel cell cars as there are many problems with battery powered cars. If you want to look at it from the standpoint of widespread usage, a hybrid car is about the only way to go. Hydrogen powered cars are simply infeasible at this point.
I agree that hybrid cars are a good idea at the moment as a midpoint, but in the long term I think that hydrogen power is better. So until fuel cells become more popular in vehicles and hydrogen stations are more common, they are indeed infeasible. However, I do still stand by my point on battery-powered cars as it is a case of 'out of sight, out of mind' as the electricity that powers them is still being generated mainly from burning coal and gas and the like, unless you live in a country where there is a lot of nuclear power. Overall: Battery-powered: Not much of an improvement Hybrid engine: Better, but it still uses normal fuel Hydrogen fuel cell: Much better, once it becomes more mainstream.
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