Hydrogen Fuel Cell

The holy grail is to store energy as hydrogen. Hydrogen can store 142 mega joules of energy per kilo gram. Our favorate energy source is gasoline(some hate it) at 46 mega joules per kilo gram. Better yet, If a hydrogen fuel cell is used to power a car it is 60 percent energy effecient versus an internal combustion energy at 16%. The Honda Clarity will travel 100 miles on a kilo gram of hydrogen while a Toyota Prius will tavel 7 miles on a kilo gram of gasoline.Theoretically the ICE is a Rube Goldberd design compared to the fuel cell. However; The hydrogen solution has been just as ellusive as the holy grail.

Here is good link for comparing energy storage densities. You will see that NG is a good energy storage "device".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_density

PS: The exhaust is water vapor. No pollution from the fuel cell!

Tags: cell, fuel, hydrogen

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Permalink Reply by Harvey on August 25, 2008 at 12:41am: Fuel cells are NOT batteries.
No hydrogen, no power.
You can not 'charge' a fuel cell.
It is only a converter.
Changing a fuel cell in a car would only be done when it no longer produces power.
Until then, one fuel cell is just like any other.
And they all cost too much.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by John R. Caratti on August 25, 2008 at 5:59am: And $4.55 per gallon of foreign gasoline is cheaper?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Harvey on August 25, 2008 at 8:01am: YES; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by JRBECK64 on August 25, 2008 at 4:27am: Thomas,
God gave us the biggest power source in the Solar System. Why not use the power of the Sun to convert Water into Hydrogen. We have a huge abundance of area in the South West of the United States that could have Solar Driven Hydrogen Plants. Its about time to Start using the Recsources we have to benefit the need. Between the Dessert and the Wind Coridor in the United States we should only need Petroleum for lubricant and plastics. We have to get off the Petroleum Fix and Start making Alternatives like Hydrogen start working for us.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by John R. Caratti on August 25, 2008 at 5:52am: I totally agree. And we are the Saudi Arabia of water here in the Carolinas. Alot of pollution is created in just building batteries.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Alex van der Beek on August 25, 2008 at 6:15am: Dear Texan people

What if you could chose between a wind turbine in your neighborhood or a beautiful Oak tree delivering your power needs

What would it be?

Yes wind turbines are great inventions, unfortunately they are costly to produce, need special transport, difficult to install especially off-shore, they are responsible for loss of property value, cause noise and light flickering, and need more money to service and to maintain, plus our scenic values are lost forever.

We've looked at this and came up with the following solution.

We have begun building natural looking artificial trees and plants - mostly from recycled materials. Our trees, shrubs and plants are fitted with "Nanoleaves" these leaves convert Light and Heat and Wind energy into electricity.
Even after the sun has set, the leaves are still working. The wind energy that plays with the leaves is harvested via a innovative use of nanopiezovoltaic material incorporated into the stem of the leaf, twigs and branches.
Converting three available energy resources in one single tree this is a efficient and a aesthetic solution for our world.

Solar Botanic trees do more - they give shade in the summer, prevent heat islands, can be used as wind shield and noise protection or can be placed for better views, objectionable views, against road glare along the highways, crop protection and water management.

Our trees can be equipped with additional technology that allows them to pump water or filter it. They can take the CO2 out of the air and release clean air.

Even if the wind is minimal, our leaves are sensitive enough to produce power, if the light is diffuse our leaves detects it and convert it to power. The smallest thermal changes allow our leaves to start working and produce power.

The trees come with a 20 year warranty. The leaves are self-cleaning and are well protected against moisture and oxygen. The look natural and come in all sort of species, for every environment we have a tree!
The response we had so far from all corners of the world is tremendous, private people, residential developers, municipalities and governments are enthusiastic about this development.

If you could chose what would it be:
A tree or a wind turbine?
let us know

regards
Alex vander Beek
solarbotanic@apollo.lv; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Cobraphx (Matt) on August 25, 2008 at 7:30am: Alex,

I like the idea, but I personally would fix the wordpress install on the website before I spread the word around too much. I did take a look at the power point presentation, looks good on paper but I noticed there are no pictures of prototype leaves, branches or trees. Not sure how you can provide a 20 year warranty on something that hasn't been tested yet. It also seems the photovoltaic calculation is a bit optimistic, on average for the trees in my yard more than half the leaves aren't in direct sunlight at any given time of the day, this is unlike the fixed solar installation that gets direct sunlight all day.

But if it works, I'd be happy to have one in my yard instead of a fixed panel photovoltaic system. If the pricing was somewhat competitive, and it looked better than the cell tower fake pine trees I've seen.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by nick on August 25, 2008 at 3:17pm: heres a link

http://www.pyrogenesis.com/index.asp; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mike Johnston on August 25, 2008 at 4:29pm: plasma hydrogen production is yet another fascinating technology which allows H2 production from a variety of hydrocarbons.

I have an interesting plasma effect of my own to add to the mix at some point.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Cobraphx (Matt) on August 25, 2008 at 5:54pm: Fuel cells are great as long as the hydrogen doesn't come from cleanly generated electricity. For things like boimass derived hydrogen, hydrogen from trash, hydrogen from algae and hydrogen from solar photosynthetic processes, the Fuel Cell is the way to go to turn those sources into clean electricity.

But someone will have to come up with a compelling argument for why it makes sense to take cleanly generated electricity and make H2 out of it. Once you take electricity and make hydrogen using electrolysis, then store and transport the resulting hydrogen somewhere to convert the remaining hydrogen back into electricity you've lost my interest. Much less efficient that transmitting the power on the grid to the point of use.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by nick on September 4, 2008 at 5:17pm: hydrogen and hydro-carbons are just a by product like heat witch is then used to make steam to keep the machine running its self sustaining process. until you run out of trash.plus it makes black glass or something like it i forget i know that some of the byproducts can be used to in road making.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Tom Czubernat on September 5, 2008 at 4:26pm: What about storing it on site for use on cloudy days or at night. Batteries in a home solar system have a life span of 5 to 7 years, from what I understand. Why not come up with a simple system for converting water, storing it for short durations.

On site power production is only as strong as the storage system. I can imagine only the electrodes (stainless steel) would have to be replaced every few years. Less costly.

Or, we can spend another span of time waiting for batteries to finally come down in price. (How long have they been around?)

Get off the grid and do something.; ▶ Reply to This