My view is about the same as Padriac on this. I also feel that more research has to go to alternative fuel solutions. Hydrogen is promising since we have that in abundance though in bound form. But the biggest problem so far is finding a viable way of producing it and storing it.
It's currently generated mostly via steam reforming of natural gas or coal gasification. ( http://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/fuels/index.html ) You may notice that both of these require fossil fuels.
You could also crack hydrogen out of water via electrolysis, i.e., running electrical current through an electrolyte-water solution. The electricity we could use to do this today is mostly (70%) generated by burning fossil fuels. Right now for every Kw of Hydrogen power we consume 2.2Kw in production.
So at the moment we use more power to produce hydrogen power.
Storage is also a problem since hydrogen has the nasty habit of leaking through everything. There is some work in progress with nanotubes that are promising.
Windpower is too erratic, our windmills have an efficiency of 15% at best, and either they produce too much, or not enough, and there is no viable way of storing that energy for a rainy day.
Solar power is also very nice, but the return of investment is still way too long. Even subsidized it will take me 10 years to get my investment of my solar panels back, provided they don't fail. The panels themselves are not made environmentally friendly either.
We need more research in all possible avenues, and improve efficiency wherever possible and make the production process less pollutant.
It's currently generated mostly via steam reforming of natural gas or coal gasification. ( http://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/fuels/index.html ) You may notice that both of these require fossil fuels.
You could also crack hydrogen out of water via electrolysis, i.e., running electrical current through an electrolyte-water solution. The electricity we could use to do this today is mostly (70%) generated by burning fossil fuels. Right now for every Kw of Hydrogen power we consume 2.2Kw in production.
So at the moment we use more power to produce hydrogen power.
Storage is also a problem since hydrogen has the nasty habit of leaking through everything. There is some work in progress with nanotubes that are promising.
Windpower is too erratic, our windmills have an efficiency of 15% at best, and either they produce too much, or not enough, and there is no viable way of storing that energy for a rainy day.
Solar power is also very nice, but the return of investment is still way too long. Even subsidized it will take me 10 years to get my investment of my solar panels back, provided they don't fail. The panels themselves are not made environmentally friendly either.
We need more research in all possible avenues, and improve efficiency wherever possible and make the production process less pollutant.
Best regards,
Leo van Miert
Horsepower is how hard you hit the wall --Torque is how far you take the wall with you
Leo van Miert
Horsepower is how hard you hit the wall --Torque is how far you take the wall with you
