Global warming?

[tw]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

TW, what's your reason for not taking hydrogen seriously as a fuel?

That is not hydrogen as a fuel. That hydrogen is only a transmission media. If hydrogen is a fuel, then the Energizer battery is also a fuel. Problem with hydrogen as a fuel; by the time it gets used, something like one in ten units of energy remain for use.

Using photocells, then hydrogen may be a storage medium. IOW as a rechargeable battery. Currently batteries based in hydrogen are not as good as other materials. Storage of energy is one of the most difficult problems that has been largely ignored since WWII. The Energizer Rabbit battery was developed in WWII. Little existed to replace it due to a lack of R&D. Especially when battery companies were owned by companies such as Sara Lee.

Gasoline is a fuel. Coal is a fuel. Uranium is a fuel. Hydrogen (ie water) has no energy until energy is provided by a fuel or other energy source. Storage of energy in hydrogen is ineffective. Hydrogen is used in rockets because significant energy can be wasted to concentrate higher energy per pound and because that energy can be controlled. Even in space, hydrogen is a poor energy storage medium.

Biggest problem with hydrogen include storage losses due to thermodynamics. Other interesting technologies considered bind hydrogen to other materials. But that technology also required high temperatures - ie 200 degrees C.

Hydrogen as a fuel was promoted by Rick Wagoner (GM) and by George Jr in one State of the Union address. A year and years later, even George Jr stopped promoting hydrogen as a fuel.