Can Urine Rescue Hydrogen-Powered Cars?

Posted by timothy on Wednesday July 8, 2009 @06:43AM from the use-every-part-of-the-animal dept.

thecarchik writes with this interesting excerpt: "It takes a lot of energy to split hydrogen out from the other atoms to which it binds, either in natural gas or water. Which means energy analysts are skeptical about the overall energy balance of cars fueled by hydrogen. Ohio University researcher Geraldine Botte has come up with a nickel-based electrode to oxidize (NH2)2CO, otherwise known as urea, the major component of animal urine. Because urea's four hydrogen atoms are less tightly bound to nitrogen than the hydrogen bound to oxygen in water molecules, it takes less energy to break them apart."

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Re:The problem.... by Entropy2016 · 2009-07-08 07:50 · Score: 0, Redundant

You can store hydrogen fairly densely and easily by just attaching it to carbon atoms in a roughly 2:1 ratio.
How is that statement any different from saying it's easy to make fossil fuels?
Where is the energy for forming these molecular bonds going to come from?