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| Has a solution to the fuel crisis already been found? |
paraclete |
08/07/06 |
This points to an interesting but little known fact, trials are underway for a radical solution to the fuel crisis, yet few know about it. Why?
Tuckey's fuel solution: hydrogen
August 7, 2006 - 1:07PM
The answer to high petrol prices is not ethanol or cutting the petrol excise but a radical hydrogen-based technology being trialled in Perth buses, a Liberal backbencher says.
West Australian Liberal Wilson Tuckey today said the hydrogen solution was the way forward, as politicians debated the petrol price crisis.
Several ideas have been put forward, including greater use of bio-fuels like ethanol, a cut to the petrol excise and better public transport.
But Mr Tuckey is the first to suggest hydrogen as the answer.
He said the CSIRO had developed a device the size of a small domestic microwave oven that runs on mains power or a solar panel to extract enough hydrogen from water to power a family car for up to 150 km per day.
Three buses in Perth are currently running on hydrogen, Mr Tuckey said.
"Furthermore, the BMW company has already produced ordinary motor cars running on hydrogen," he said.
He said parliament's refusal to invest in the technology was outrageous.
"What enrages me is that this parliament, because Labor is no better than us, is refusing to make the investment in a kit that would transfer the ordinary car to a hydrogen car."
AAP
So how come this is hiding in a backwoods trial? Is it because this solution is home grown and doesn't make profits for oil companies, or is it because it's application to the Northern Hemisphere and lack of sunlight is limited?
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Clarification/Follow-up by tomder55 on 08/08/06 10:47 am:
A typical fuel cell converts hydrogen and oxygen into water, and in the process it produces electricity. The oxygen required for a fuel cell comes from the air.To get the hydrogen a 'reformer' is used that converts hydrocarbons into hydrogen (as well as other chemicals that are not useful to power the car and have to be cleaned out of the mixture by the reformer).Even still the hydrogen that comes out of them is not pure, and this lowers the efficiency of the fuel cell (80 percent if the hydrogen is pure ..much less if you convert methanol to hydrogen). I would be interested to see the energy loss needed to power up his "microwave " .I'd wager that in most parts of the world his solar panels would not cut it and if they did ,they would be sufficient to power the vehicle on it's own .
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