Free energy

PMM Jul 9, 2008 12:46:16

Apparently, ITM power

have come up with a process for creating hydrogen at home using a new plastic as a catalyst. The impression given by the BBC report was that the plastic itself did the splitting of H2O into H and O.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the case. The process still requires electricity (which the company touts as being obtainable from renewable sources) Utter bollocks of course. My 2Kw Fan heater also uses electricity, which can be sourced from renewables, but nobody is saying its greener than putting a jumper on.

So we need not a hydrogen economy, but a methane one.

The average human being farts around a litre of methane daily. This is a greenhouse gas, and a far more potent greenhouse gas than Carbon Dioxide, yet we release it straight into the atmosphere. Wasteful and destructive.

The answer is both obvious and straightforward.

Everyone will be issued with a rubber tube and a big bottle.

Since food production is largely based upon fossil fuels, we need to find a way of compensating for their decline, so that people don't starve.

Since, as Merrick will tell you, a field of vegetables will feed far more people than a field of cows, people must be encouraged to switch to a vegetarian diet, high in pulses and fibre.

You can see where I'm going with this, can't you?

And yup. I know I'm full of shit.

Deepinder Cheema Jul 10, 2008 01:30:23

Replying to PMM

It may have some takers, as its cheaper than designing a fuel cell car, the car being converted to powered by hydrogen - so its Zeppelin powered! (the blimp I mean)

Merrick Jul 10, 2008 09:57:30

Replying to PMM

The BBC report says

"The hydrogen home refuelling station works via an electrolyser which produces the gas from water and electricity. An internal combustion generator converts the gas back into electricity to provide power for the home."

So let me get this straight - we take electricity that's coming into our house, convert it to hydrogen, then convert it back into electricity for use in the house.

Erm, why not, I dunno, just use the electricity?

Ah yes, but the demonstration is to show that it can be done for use in a car that isn't pugged into the grid.

But even then, the hydrogen is just being used as a way to store electricity. It is just a battery. Making hydrogen from water takes colossal amounts of electricity. There are far, far more efficient batteries on the market.

I recently did the maths for the Honda hydrogen car. If they make the hydrogen from natural gas, the emissions are as bad as a petrol car. If they make it from electricity taken from the grid, the emissions are twice as bad.

Oh, but as PMM noted, the company's talking of using renewable electricity. The thing is that, as PMM also notes, is that it takes it away from other sources.

At the moment we power our vehicles from oil. If we start powering them from electricity, we add to the overall demand for electricity. So if we've taken the renewables to make vehicle fuel, it means more fossils get burned to make up the shortfall.

It's like the way biofuels companies say they're not cutting down forest when they use arable land for their plantations; in doing so they displace the food that would've been grown there, and there's a knock-on that means someone somewhere is cutting down forest to grow food.

And not only does hydrogen take from other sources, but it does so very inefficiently. There's no justification for making hydrogen from electricity that isn't a bigger reason to make straightforward electric vehicles.

handofdave Jul 10, 2008 16:09:24

Replying to PMM

Now when someone says "It's all going to shit", it'll be a rallying cry for poo power.

I can't wait for the 'I'm Going 2 Shit!' T-shirts. Or, "The Future Stinks!" bumper stickers.

How about: "Fart if you Love Your Mother" or, "BEAN ME UP, SCOTTY!"