Ubiquitous Hydrogen Power Not Getting Any Closer

NewScientist has a story about the "hydrogen economy" that has been resting on the horizon for a decade or more. Despite a great deal of enthusiasm for and research into hydrogen-based power systems, the technology seems just as far away from everyday use as it's always been. A British startup, ITM Power, has recently claimed a breakthrough in lowering production costs by using a nickel catalyst (rather than platinum) with a membrane small enough for home use. But, even if their method is proven and adopted, it still wouldn't address huge energy efficiency problems in the process. "The point was made forcefully by Gary Kendall of the conservation group WWF in a recent report called Plugged In (PDF, pgs. 135-149). Kendall, a chemist who previously spent almost a decade working for ExxonMobil, highlights how the energy losses in the fuel chain - from electrolysis to compression of the hydrogen for use to inefficiencies in the fuel cell itself — mean that only 24 per cent of the energy used to make the fuel does any useful work on the road."

Comments

Re:Infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure.

[east coast]

ditch no-future subsidies for ethanol & Detroit

Unless I'm reading into this wrong, you're missing something...

For Obama's plan for the US to be the leader in alternative fuels we're going to need Detroit. He needs an auto industry that he can lay hands on and manipulate. Otherwise he's going to be relying on the goodwill of other auto makers to meet him half way to his goal and that's probably still going to involve subsidies. If these subsidies are going to exist either way I'd much rather have them here than abroad. By using resources in the US he will have some say and legislation will give him a hand to work with these assets.

We need to draw a line between the oil industry and the auto industry. As long as we treat them as the same we're never going to rise above the muck that keeps alternative fuels beached. It's a hard pill to swallow but it's still there regardless of our outlook on all of it.

Who Killed the Electric Car

[smist08]

The movie "Who Killed the Electric Car", showed hydrogen powered cars as just a huge delaying tactic used by GM/Ford/Chrysler to delay an alternative to gas. They had commercially viable electric cars (which they crushed) that were far more efficient than hydrogen will ever be, but didn't want to switch. A main reason being that you don't get all the other revenue from electricity like oil changes, selling gas, etc., etc.

Exclellent movie, well worth watching. Really makes you want to see the big three go under rather then receive another big subsidy.