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Originally Posted by Alex Stroup
Personally, I think fuel cells are the pipe dream that has derailed sensible discussion into alternative fuels.
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How can you justify calling fuel cells a pipe dream? They have been used successfully as far back as the Apollo program. They are currently used in
business around the world to great effect. Did you think they were just for cars?
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Originally Posted by Alex Stroup
And I don't care about big business providing the power I'd just prefer we move from sources of power that destroy the environment by design to a source of power that only does significant damage to the environment by accident.
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There will still be a need for big business energy, I don't say self generated power is for everyone, I just want it for me and
large numbers of my fellow earth dwellers.
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Originally Posted by Alex Stroup
There's a guy in New Jersey that uses solar power to provide all of the electricity he needs for his home. He then uses the excess solar power for electrolysis to power fuel cells that run his home and car through the long winter when sunshine is rare and its energy reduced. To store enough hydrogen to power his fuel cells for 3 1/2 months required 10 1,000 gallon tanks. Fortunately he has 12 acres of land on which to put all of these solar panels and gas tanks.
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Actually you mean there is a guy in New Jersey that
wants to provide electricity for his home. He is not currently producing any Hydrogen. His problem with the 10-1,000 gallon tanks is
NOT the fuel cell, it's the generation of the Hydrogen. If you will look back to my first post on this issue, you will see that I clearly state that currently the missing part of the solar-to-hydrogen-to-fuel cell equation is the technology to efficiently separate out hydrogen from water using the energy found in the visible part of the spectrum. Your New Jersey friend with his expensive "Electrolyzer" for generating hydrogen is definitely old school. It's inefficient and slow. You will note that his 10 takes are all
low pressure which is why he needs so many. Why are they low pressure? Because under his plan he does not get enough energy to run a pump to pressurize the gas. So in short this guy is barking up the wrong tree but it's not the fault of the fuel cell, it's the current gas extraction technology limit that's the problem.
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Originally Posted by Alex Stroup
In most urban and suburban areas this simply wouldn't work without massive infrastructural redesigns. For example....,
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Again, you are stuck thinking about current technology for gas extraction. You don't need acres of solar cells if you have even a 10 percent performance level
direct solar to hydrogen process
Will everyone generate their own power? Of course not. Your typical office tower or factory will not be able to create it's own energy. Am I saying we should only focus on hydrogen generation? No. However it is a technology that could go a
very long way towards solving our energy needs in a clean environment friendly way.