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Scientists Use Microbes to Produce Hydrogen
An anonymous reader writes " Environmental engineers at Penn State University and a research scientist at Ion Power Inc. have created an electrically-assisted microbial fuel cell that can be used to produce hydrogen from organic material. The amount of electricity needed for the process is less than the amount required to power a standard cell phone. This advancement can be used to produce hydrogen as a byproduct of water treatment. " Coverage at ScienceDaily as well.
Will people be able to buy microbe tanks to generate hydrogen for their own homes? Imagine every home in the world adding to the hydrogen generating infrastructure. All of a sudden fuel cell cars would be a viable venture. Want wheels? Just add sea monkeys!
Yes! That's right! Just imagine EVERY home in the world producing molecular hydrogen for fuel consumption... I can see it now... this would be similar to the CFCs produced in the 1950s to present day that were released into the atmosphere from automobile accidents (R12 and R134), kids playing around with old air-conditioners, mechanical failure, neglegence in releasing these chemicals into the atmosphere. While hydrogen will not destroy the ozone, Earth's gravitational field will not prevent molecular hydrogen from escaping into space. I see a big problem with this. Multiply the loss of a lot of molecular hydrogen by every single living human on the planet, let's say, over the next 150 years. This too will be destructive to our environment in one form or another, from a chemistry perspective. If other elements are slowly or rapidly forced to form chemical bonds with elements other than hydrogen, what will be the consequences? Has anyone thought about that one yet? Oxidation? Reduction? Dismutation? Oh, but wait, we'll worry about that when it becomes a problem, like global warming. We already have all the energy we need from the sun. If the politics and business models would change across the world, we could utilize solar energy very efficiently. Oh, but then of course nobody would make any money right? WRONG! Solar panels get broken, stepped on, broken by wind storms, hurricanes, tornados, thunderstorms, fire, terrorists, neglegence, etc... their will always be work for those people in that field of research/manufacturing. If molecular hydrogen is going to be produced my every single human being over the next 150 years, then a method must be developed to ensure escape does not happen, perhaps molecular hydrogen on demand would be ideal, not requiring storage in tanks. If I recall correctly, one of the last hydrogen storage tanks had quite a bang in the early part of the last century...it was called the Hindenburg.
I'm all for alternative fuels, but extreme care must be taken not to get humanity into another life-threatening environmental problem. We all know about engineered obsolescence, i.e., products designed to fail after a determined amount of time. This cannot be allowed to happen with molecular hydrogen producing sources available to consumers.
http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/ Please stop spreading misinformation. Hydrogen is not a viable fuel source. It is a waste of time, money, and energy. It could be likened to the 'cars of the future' of the 50s. Please stop acting like 1950's corn balls. It would make my quality of life better... Thanks in advance. SnowB http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/