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Crunching the Numbers on a Hydrogen Economy
mattnyc99 writes "In its new cover story, 'The Truth About Hydrogen,' Popular Mechanics magazine takes a close look at how close the United States is to powering its homes, cars and economy with hydrogen — including a calculation of where all the hydrogen would come from to meet President Bush's demands. Interesting that they break down the future of hydropower not by its advantages but by its challenges: production, storage, distribution and use."
Great. Does this mean we'll have to invade Iceland for their hydrogen now? It will be tough to do it under the cover of 'regime change' this time--I don't think Iceland even has a government, let alone a dictator (liberate Iceland!). Maybe we can claim that they're ignoring UN inspections or something. I mean, when was the last time the UN got to inspect Iceland? They could be doing anything up there with all that 'hydrogen' power. You don't know.
steampunk web design
You really think that'll work, don't you? I think you really think you can get more energy out of hydrogen than it took to electrolyse water to make it.
ResidntGeek
Funny story, Hydrogen costs more energy to produce than you get from combusting it, or using it in a fuel cell. Where does the energy come from to produce hydrogen? well, usually it comes from petroleum. A hydrogen economy is impractical. Do I have a solution to the energy problems we face, of course not. But unless you can magically mine hydrogen from space somewhere, then a hydrogen economy won't work. Energy has to come from somewhere, and last I checked hydrogen doesn't grow on trees. It is important to note, that ethanol can be made from trees though, an ethanol economy would be much more practical. Yes, it still takes energy to make methanol, but not even a measurable fraction of the energy it takes to produce hydrogen.