Hydrogen fuelled cars: good idea in theory

[ASEI]

What othe clean source do we have, wind to power cars? not practical, mini nuclear power plants? not practical and dangerous, Solar Panels? damage could stop car, only really usuable in sunny enviroments.

 

I've blogged about this topic often before. Replacing the energy we currently use in terms of gasoline is not going to be any easy trick. It will involve generating at least 1400 GW (yes, gigawatts) of electricity. Solar panels on your roof and windmill farms simply are not going to cut it, as far as generating that sort of energy goes. Until we can produce that sort of energy, we will be dependent on oil.

 

Furthermore, we can't simply become more efficient until we stop needing that energy. The productivity of modern civilization, our freedom from medieval grinding poverty, and our ability to sustain our population is directly proportional to the extent which we can get our machines to do work for us. Machines don't work if they don't have energy, and there are sharp diminishing returns in terms of efficiency for increasing device complexity and cost. The bare minimum energy to perform a task (move material across the country, for example) will always be there, and the thermodynamic limits of efficiency aren't going to allow us much leeway in that department either. Trying to improve efficiency is like looking for loose change under your sofa to make your student loan payments.

 

Whatever form the storage method for the energy takes, hydrogen, boron-hydrides (one of my favorites), or batteries, the energy itself must be supplied. Currently, I don't think there are many alternatives to oil other than massive nuclear and hydroelectric generation.

[weknowthewor]

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles may take 20 years to catch on, but hybrids will bloom until then....

[Ndi]

Why would anyone go for a hybrid between an old fossil and a new fossil? This topic was about the less-than-bright idea of hydrogen power.

 

Unless Hydrogen cars are the promiseland, people will be slow to switch, if ever. And if there is no switch at the horizon, the hybrids will not catch on. Who buys half of pie if you hate pie? (Exclude fads and people who buy the latest of whatever it is).

 

I've never had a thing for hybrids. Neither does the majority of the world. While it sounds OK to have a clean(er) car, nobody is OK with 30 seconds 0-100. Nobody is OK with 90 Km/h top speed. Or no-servo-no-AC-no-nothing. If they were they'd buy solar. Heck, you can double the performance if the car is lighter. Do we get lighter cars? No. What sells? 1.5 ton 150 HP sedans, 2.2 ton SUVs and almost one ton minis. Read my lips. One ton MINI class.

 

Heck, even a gasoline engine can be made damn efficient if you sacrifice performance. We have diesels that are quite effective. What do we sell? 170 HP turbocharged engines that eat about the same as a gas engine.

 

Unless Hydrogen suddenly becomes almost-free, I stand by the dark prediction.

 

Hell, look at the lightbulb. 2% light, burns out like crazy, fire hazard, break hazard, cutting glass if broken, exposed power if broken, unremovable if broken, child hazard, heck, it's a menace. You'd expect fluorescent to be all over it, it's a screw-in replacement, it's cheaper, more efficient, etc. It's not.

[layman77]

What about using a zero pollution renewable resource to electrolysize the water?

 

Solar plants would work, as long as there is sunlight. Nuclear (I'd use pebble bed reactors though) is a non-renewable resource but lasts a very long time, and hydroelectric, like the hoover dam, but to split the water rather than producing energy, would work as long as there is gravity.