Swell Fuel - Hydrogen farming on the oceans
One of the complaints about using hydrogen as a fuel, or more accurately as an energy storage medium, is that the energy required to produce hydrogen, exceeds the energy output. If hydrogen is being produced via electrolysis powered by fossil fuel electricity, this is a very serious issue. However, if you can find a pollution-free means of powering the electrolysis process, you can largely overcome this. An inventor in Houston, Texas has developed a mechanism that uses wave power to generate electricity. It consists of floats connected to a flywheel generator, that would be anchored underwater. As the waves go by, the float oscillates, driving the generator. The resulting electricity, could be used for electrolysis. The Swell Fuel website includes videos demonstrating a prototype unit. If this could be made to work in large off-shore installations, it could provide a huge amount of truly pollution-free, renewable energy.[Source: Swellfuel.com via Hugg]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tim 6:46PM (1/03/2007)
Producing hydrogen efficiently is just the first of many problems. The “Hydrogen Economy” is just one big SCAM http://www.oilcrash.com/articles/h_scam.htm In fact, “Hydrogen may be considered to be one of the MOST DESTRUCTIVE GASSES to escape into the atmosphere. It will destroy ozone in an IRREVERSABLE process, reduce oxygen levels and produce water vapor in the stratosphere.” http://www.ozone-depletion.com/. Hydrogen is one of the smallest and lightest elements, which means that it escapes easily. Consider hundreds of millions of tanks of this highly explosive gas leaking some of their destructive cargo directly into the atmosphere every time you fill them. You can’t clean that up as “easily” as an oil spill. We thought fossil fuels were bad! Spilled bio-diesel from algae http://www.autobloggreen.com/2006/12/28/solix-and-colorado-state-university-team-to-commercialize-algae/ (or electricity for that matter) is less toxic to the environment than sugar and won’t explode with a spark.
A terrorist’s dream is to have a giant potential BOMB such as a semi-trailer, container ship or tank farm of highly explosive gas such as LNG, H2 etc. parked next to a juicy target. A container ship of this stuff has about the same energy as 55 Hiroshima type nuclear bombs. Are they (including Al “Green” Gore) worried? YOU BET! http://www.timrileylaw.com/LNG.htm
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Arnie 8:15PM (1/03/2007)
I simply don't understand this post. What about plugging the generator into the grid? Using the electricity from it to make hydrogen at low efficiency instead of replacing coal generated electricity for the grid does not make sense.
And why is this particular wave power gadget newsworthy? Why not windmills? Why not write a post like that every time someone constructs one of those? Or a nuclear power plant?
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Howard Lee Harkness 9:54PM (1/03/2007)
"The resulting electricity, could be used for electrolysis."
Or, better yet, you could skip the grossly inefficient electrolysis, and use the electricity directly -- not only more efficient, but less polluting, and MUCH safer.
In fact, other than using hydrogen as rocket fuel, any use of hydrogen as a fuel could be made safer, simpler, easier, more efficient, and much less costly by just leaving out the hydrogen.
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