The Power Of Hydrogen

I followed a link from Instapundit this afternoon about a new concept car from Ford that is, according to Popular Mechanics, "the world’s first working plug-in, fuel-cell, hydrogen-powered car." That was pretty cool--a real car with hydrogen fuel-cell power. I wanted a ride. The short little blurb about Ford's new hybrid then sent me on a rabbit trail to an article from the November 2006 issue of Popular Mechanics. It's a very interesting primer on the current state of Hydrogen fuel technology, examining hydrogen as a source of power, its transportation and storage, practical uses, and also the various sources for that hydrogen. I'm not going to synopsize the article; although it's not horribly long, there's an awful lot packed into it, and Jeff Wise at PM has already done all that work. It would be a shame to duplicate his efforts when I really have nothing useful or entertaining to add. I will, however, encourage you to read it for yourself. Wise explains lots of things I never knew before about the mechanics of getting energy from hydrogen, the environmental cost of current methods of hydrogen production, the history of hydrogen technology (it's been used on the space shuttle for decades) and where it's headed, including a look at infrastructure. If you're curious how close we are to a hydrogen economy, go have a look.

Note: Popular Mechanics is also promising a cover story in May on the future of plug-in hybrids that ought to be interesting. I'll try to keep an eye out for it. Let me know if you spot it first.

Hydrogen Fuel Cells: "On Demand" Energy

Here's an alternative energy tidbit for you. Clean, cheap energy remains the Holy Grail of the modern scientific world (unless you rank the cure for cancer higher.) Among other approaches, ambitious companies are working hard on practical ways to make hydrogen fuel our cars. Bill Hobbs, writing yesterday at Ecotalityblog, says that Ecotality’s Hydratus technology combines magnesium and water, and the reaction between them produces hydrogen "on demand," as a vehicle's fuel cell has need of it. On demand sounds good, doesn't it? So does the idea of a fuel whose only byproduct is water, which is one of the lures of hydrogen as a source of energy, and Hobbs says this new technology can power a bus. The Smart People at Ecotality think they're onto something big.

Now, I'm not a chemist, or a physicist or any other kind of "ist," but I still found the short post about the Hydratus interesting. Although, maybe I found it interesting because I'm not an "ist." So far there are several comments from other Smart People in response to the post, explaining why using magnesium is not a net gain in terms of energy output, requiring too much energy to produce the magnesium which produces the hydrogen, and how there are other byproducts to deal with as well when magnesium is involved. Ecotality’s CEO, Jonathan Read, sounds awfully confident, though, claiming, "Hydrogen on-demand is going to be what catapults hydrogen from being a great concept to a great reality." Maybe the company is one or two steps ahead of the commenters. Smart People debates--fine entertainment for your Wednesday morning. I hope Ecotality comes out ahead on this one, though. It would be nice to see more really tangible advances on the alternative energy front.

Hat tip: Instapundit

Alternative Fuels: Another Idea Makes It Off The Pizza Box

Here's one from the "where do they get these ideas?" file. So many scientists have so many ways to approach the alternative fuels search. From biodiesel to more outlandish (and fictional) concepts like "Mr. Fusion" from the movie Back To The Future, everyone is looking for the perfect replacement for good old evil, polluting, gasoline. Of course, most of these ideas will never be more than that, one more notion jotted down on the back of a pizza box during a late night brainstorming session. Some of those pizza box ideas actually get developed enough to be patented. Some, like biodiesel from french fry oil, are at this moment making a few cars vroom their way down a state highway or two. Most, however, like biodiesel, carry their own flaws and environmental impact.

One of the potential alternates touted for its cleanliness and efficiency, hydrogen fuel cells, also has a list of problems a mile long, including the fact that it's highly explosive. Enter an idea that has just made it past the pizza box stage, and moved on to the patent application stage. At New Scientist today, Barry Fox is writing about a new proposal from the US Department of Energy to encase the hydrogen in tiny glass balls, balls so small and smooth they would flow like a liquid into your tank, where heat or vacuum would then be used to extract the hydrogen. The hope is that the hydrogen would "be so tightly locked inside the spheres that there would be no risk of explosion or fire if a leak occurs." Let us hope so indeed.

It will be interesting to see whether this plan will get to the "we actually made it work" stage, and then move on to being available to the average consumer. If it does, I envision some logistics issues. This is just my speculation, but I imagine that when you went to fill up your tank, you would first have to hit a station that could empty your tank--of all those slippery little glass balls. A little cumbersome, but it could still work. Just from personal preference, however, I'm still hoping the Mr. Fusion idea hasn't been scrapped. With that there was no trip to the filling station at all. Just a couple of banana peels, and a mostly empty beer can, and we're off. No more waiting in line, and your garbage becomes valuable. Heck of a deal.

Update: As if in answer to my request for Mr. Fusion to be taken out of mothballs, here's some progress on the nuclear fusion front--a potential solution to those things we all dread--ELMs. Hat tip: Futurismic

Ouch: Scrappleface has Senator Clinton's proposal for how to fund alternative energy research.