Iceland's plan is quite exciting. They're going to replace gasoline and other imported fossile energy carriers with hydrogen.
The hydrogen is to be produced by electrolysis of water using hydro power or geothermal energy. (Both of which Iceland has an abundancy of, so far they have harnessed only 16 % of the total capacity.)
Electrolysis is an expensive way to produce hydrogen. According to the calculations, hydrogen would be 2-3 times more expensive per energy content than imported gasoline. On the other hand, fuel cell applications, in which hydrogen is used, are in general twice as efficient as internal combustion engines. This levels off the price difference.
According to the current plan, land vehicles will use gaseous hydrogen, whereas fishing fleet will be fueled with methanol. Iceland's metal industry produces huge amounts of carbon oxides' which can be collected. Carbon dioxides and electrolytically produced hydrogen are combined into methanol.
By adopting hydrogen as the energy carrier for transportation, Iceland would be able to reduce the dependancy on imported fuels significantly and reduce carbon dioxide emission by up to 50 %.
The transition to hydrogen economy has been championed by professor Bragi Arnason since the late 70's. For more information, see prof. Arnason's
latest presentation on the subject (pdf).
A fuel cell (despite the name) is not a heat engine and does not have this fundamental limitation, so the maximum efficiency is 100%.
Right, fuel cells are free from the limitations of Carnot's law, but fuel cell efficiency depends on the definition of efficiency and the choice of fuel and oxidant.
Quite often fuel cell efficiency is defined as follows:
eff. =
deltaG/deltaH0,
where deltaG is the change of Gibbs free energy for the reaction and deltaH0 is the enthalpy change for the reaction in standard state.
For H2/O2-fuel cell the efficiency is about 83%. There are other possible fuel cell reactions that give an efficiency over 100%. The catch is that those reactions are endothermic; they take heat from the surroundings and convert it into electricity.
It's not like anyone's trying to pretend this is some totally new tech that's never been seen. It's just new to us.
Outside USA, you should be able to get your hands on a Benefon ESC!, a gsm+gps phone that has been available for a while. For more info, take a look at Benefon's web pages.
Hydrogen has high energy density vs. weight, but low energy density vs. volume. In addition, hydrogen is very light and does not accumulate easily. Being very light means that leaked hydrogen dilutes very quickly after an accident.
There is a very good article on automobile fuel safety at http://www.eren.doe.gov/hydrogen/. Check it out.
One of the older types uses sintered nickel oxide powder as the catalyst. Nickel's cheap. This kind works fine for hydrogen processing; the problem is that if you use air as the oxygen source, the catalyst gets "poisoned" by the CO2 (stops working efficiently after a while).
Another kind used aluminum oxide.
Industry mainly uses a third type of fuel cell; I don't remember what the catalyst in it is offhand. The electrolyte is phosphoric acid.
Most low-temperature fuel cells utilize platinum catalysts. Platinum is expensive, but it is not the problem, since platinum content is very low (~0.2 g/cm^2).
The most expensive parts of fuel cells are the separator plates. They are usually made of graphite or stainless steel and machining reactant channels into those materials is very expensive.
There is no need for AI, unless they come up with some real intelligence first. Getting the conversions between feet and meters right would be a good start.
I slipped a disk in my lower back some ten years ago. I was still in school and I could'n do much PE for half a year and had to give up taekwondo, but gradually my condition got better without any special therapy, just some mild painkillers. Some years later, I even served in the army with no problems. Had I known better, I would have demanded proper treatment.
In the winter two and a half years ago I started to have back problems again. I was working as a research assistant at my university and I had to sit in front of the computer quite a lot. I took some painkillers and gritted my teeth but did not go to see a doctor. (I should have.) By the summer, my back was so bad that getting up in the morning was painful and sitting for more than 15 minutes was impossible. Finally, I went to see a physiatrist.
The diagnose was a pinned sciatic nerve. The condition was treated with painkillers, muscle relaxants and electric acupuncture. When the symptoms eased off, I went to physiotherapy for the summer and learned some good exercise moves. (Not good old sit-ups, they are plain evil if you have a slipped disk.) At university, I got to buy a good chair. By the end of the summer my back was so much better that I could completely stop taking painkillers and going to physiotherapy.
I've tried to keep my back in shape by doing the exercises and it has worked well. I have no problem walking or sitting and I can even do skydiving and skiing, but running and martial arts are still off limits for me. (Repetitive shock or rotational motion to lower back.)
If there is a moral to this story, it might be this: If you have back problems, do not hesitate to go to see a doctor. Get yourself a good chair and take care that you sit in a good position. And most of all, remember to exercise in the right way (here a pro can help a lot).
How high are your taxes in Finland? And if the U.S.health-care system is so awful (i.e. not
socialized) like everyone says,
Yes, taxes are quite high in Finland and beer is expensive, but on the other hand, social security and public health care are good and education is free.
Slashdot Mirror
Iceland's plan is quite exciting. They're going to replace gasoline and other imported fossile energy carriers with hydrogen.
The hydrogen is to be produced by electrolysis of water using hydro power or geothermal energy. (Both of which Iceland has an abundancy of, so far they have harnessed only 16 % of the total capacity.)
Electrolysis is an expensive way to produce hydrogen. According to the calculations, hydrogen would be 2-3 times more expensive per energy content than imported gasoline. On the other hand, fuel cell applications, in which hydrogen is used, are in general twice as efficient as internal combustion engines. This levels off the price difference.
According to the current plan, land vehicles will use gaseous hydrogen, whereas fishing fleet will be fueled with methanol. Iceland's metal industry produces huge amounts of carbon oxides' which can be collected. Carbon dioxides and electrolytically produced hydrogen are combined into methanol.
By adopting hydrogen as the energy carrier for transportation, Iceland would be able to reduce the dependancy on imported fuels significantly and reduce carbon dioxide emission by up to 50 %.
The transition to hydrogen economy has been championed by professor Bragi Arnason since the late 70's. For more information, see prof. Arnason's latest presentation on the subject (pdf).
Right, fuel cells are free from the limitations of Carnot's law, but fuel cell efficiency depends on the definition of efficiency and the choice of fuel and oxidant.
Quite often fuel cell efficiency is defined as follows:
where deltaG is the change of Gibbs free energy for the reaction and deltaH0 is the enthalpy change for the reaction in standard state.For H2/O2-fuel cell the efficiency is about 83%. There are other possible fuel cell reactions that give an efficiency over 100%. The catch is that those reactions are endothermic; they take heat from the surroundings and convert it into electricity.
Outside USA, you should be able to get your hands on a Benefon ESC!, a gsm+gps phone that has been available for a while. For more info, take a look at Benefon's web pages.
Hydrogen has high energy density vs. weight, but low energy density vs. volume. In addition, hydrogen is very light and does not accumulate easily. Being very light means that leaked hydrogen dilutes very quickly after an accident.
There is a very good article on automobile fuel safety at http://www.eren.doe.gov/hydrogen/. Check it out.
--
msm
Most low-temperature fuel cells utilize platinum catalysts. Platinum is expensive, but it is not the problem, since platinum content is very low (~0.2 g/cm^2).
The most expensive parts of fuel cells are the separator plates. They are usually made of graphite or stainless steel and machining reactant channels into those materials is very expensive.
There is no need for AI, unless they come up with some real intelligence first. Getting the conversions between feet and meters right would be a good start.
--
msm
I slipped a disk in my lower back some ten years ago. I was still in school and I could'n do much PE for half a year and had to give up taekwondo, but gradually my condition got better without any special therapy, just some mild painkillers. Some years later, I even served in the army with no problems. Had I known better, I would have demanded proper treatment.
In the winter two and a half years ago I started to have back problems again. I was working as a research assistant at my university and I had to sit in front of the computer quite a lot. I took some painkillers and gritted my teeth but did not go to see a doctor. (I should have.) By the summer, my back was so bad that getting up in the morning was painful and sitting for more than 15 minutes was impossible. Finally, I went to see a physiatrist.
The diagnose was a pinned sciatic nerve. The condition was treated with painkillers, muscle relaxants and electric acupuncture. When the symptoms eased off, I went to physiotherapy for the summer and learned some good exercise moves. (Not good old sit-ups, they are plain evil if you have a slipped disk.) At university, I got to buy a good chair. By the end of the summer my back was so much better that I could completely stop taking painkillers and going to physiotherapy.
I've tried to keep my back in shape by doing the exercises and it has worked well. I have no problem walking or sitting and I can even do skydiving and skiing, but running and martial arts are still off limits for me. (Repetitive shock or rotational motion to lower back.)
If there is a moral to this story, it might be this: If you have back problems, do not hesitate to go to see a doctor. Get yourself a good chair and take care that you sit in a good position. And most of all, remember to exercise in the right way (here a pro can help a lot).
--
msm
Yes, taxes are quite high in Finland and beer is expensive, but on the other hand, social security and public health care are good and education is free.