| goof2 |
07-15-2009 11:32 AM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by TYEster
(Post 241404)
Well to everyone who cried "What are we suppposed to use!" "You can't just WISH that kind of technology into existance" "We're crying because Obama is LITERALLY coming to our house to take the keys to our sportscars" when I said we need to find an alternative fuel source...
Look what 101 found.... Apparently I CAN wish things into existance.
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When they say it is a hydrogen powered car I assume it uses hydrogen fuel cells. This isn't new technology. Look up the Honda FCX Clarity for a bit more "consumer ready" version. The problem is hydrogen has some serious hurdles.
The primary issue is that it takes more energy to produce hydrogen than the resulting hydrogen contains. Basically it takes a lot of electricity to make hydrogen. That is electricity we currently don't have. Solar and wind can't even come close to meeting our needs now, much less adding this requirement on to it. If we aren't going to build nuclear power plants (which I don't see happening) that leaves us with coal/natural gas/gasoline being burned to create that energy. You now have a "green" fuel that results in a lot of hydrocarbons being burned. Awesome!
There is also no infrastructure to get hydrogen in to the cars. How many gas stations want to pay to install large, extremely high pressure tanks full of explosive gas to cater to a market that currently doesn't exist outside of a few California cities? Even if the answer is every gas station you have to get the hydrogen from the cracking facility to the gas stations. This would involve trucks carrying that same explosive gas under extremely high pressure.
Finally, instead of a gas tank at or near atmospheric pressure, cars would now need a hydrogen tank pressurized in the thousands of PSI. Most of what I have heard is around 10,000 PSI. That is bad enough, but it is pressurized with an explosive gas. Sounds like a great idea.
Your wishing has resulted in a "solution" that is impractical, expensive, potentially dangerous, and of doubtful benefit. I would say you are ready to join the Obama energy team if it weren't for the Obama administration already rejecting hydrogen fuel cell vehicles for the above reasons plus a few of their own.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/08/sc...=1&ref=science |
