Re: End of the Road for Hydrogen
- From: "Bob Eld" <nsmontassoc@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2007 03:56:48 GMT
"Pluto" <pluto7@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:epbeqi$ubc$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
End of the Road for Hydrogenwhat could be
With climate change on everyone's mind and rumours of an energy crisis,
better than a car which doesn't run on fossil fuels and has no emissionsexcept water?
BMW's new Hydrogen 7 fits the bill. This is the V-12 BMW 7 modified to runon hydrogen.
It has a petrol tank as well; it also runs on petrol, which is handy ifyou are far from
the UK's only hydrogen filling station - one of only six in the world. Ofcourse, if
hydrogen catches on there will be filling stations all over the country,won't there?
hydrogen tank
Hydrogen cars sound ideal, but there are practical problems. First, the
takes eight minutes to fill and it takes up most of the boot space. Eventhen, the
hydrogen tank provides a range of only 125 miles. To get enough hydrogeninto the fuel
tank it has to be chilled and liquefied. Gradually it warms up and boilsaway, so if you
don't use the car over the weekend you'll find less in the tank. Park upat the airport
while you take your three-week holiday and when you get back it'll benearly empty.
hydrogen
The fact that the hydrogen has to boil off for safety reasons may be why
vehicles are illegal in France. Even over here you are advised not to parkthe vehicle
in an enclosed car park. You cannot see hydrogen, you cannot smell it andit burns with
an invisible flame. Like petrol vapour, when mixed with air it is highlyexplosive. At
least you can smell petrol!electrolysed
Where does hydrogen come from? It is either extracted from natural gas or
by passing a current through water. Extracting hydrogen from natural gasleaves carbon
dioxide, which must be captured - otherwise the process produces as muchCO2 emissions
as if you had just burnt the gas. Electrolysis produces no CO2, but itdoes produce a
lot of waste heat so the energy content of the hydrogen is significantlyless than the
energy of the electricity used. Electricity itself comes from coal, gas ornuclear, and
the electricity produced is also much less than the fuel put into thegeneration
process. Producing hydrogen this way is very inefficient.the future. As
All these factors make it very doubtful that hydrogen will be the fuel of
we approach Peak Oil and petrol becomes more and more expensive, economiesand cutting
back on our travel will be the only solution.$36.95 per US
How will you change your lifestyle when petrol costs £5/litre? (That's
gallon.)http://www.planetsave.com/ps_mambo/The_News/Feature_Articles/End_of_the_Road
Anthony Day
_for_Hydrogen_200701258387/
Now you are catching on. The above points out a few of hydrogen's many
negatives but there are others including some that are even larger show
stoppers. Notably it takes about FIVE times the infrastructure in tankage,
pipelines, trucks, compressors and other accouterments to handle, store and
deliver hydrogen than it does equivalent liquid fuels like ethanol. Who's
going to pay for that? and why should they? This problem is due to
hydrogen's low volumetric energy density and the necessity of high pressures
or cryrogenic equipment to handle it. Much has been made of hydrogen's
flammability but an even greater safety issue is with proposed very high
pressures, up to 15,000PSI in some cases. Imagine what a burst tank could
do! Hydrogen is destined to ALWAYS be the "fuel of the future!"
.
- References:
- End of the Road for Hydrogen
- From: Pluto
- End of the Road for Hydrogen
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