Is this hydrogen fuel technology possible?

[W3pcq]

LA is going to melt anyways. LOL

 

[makethings]

Rather than solar, consider wind. It costs around $2 million for a wind turbine that generates 1 MW. There are many places in the world with a continuous supply of wind. Plunk a few million of those babies in those spots and you've got a pretty darn good way to tackle the energy problem. Not to mention, you can still farm the same land you put those wind towers on which is not something you can really do with a bunch of solar panels lying on the surface.

 

[W3pcq]

How about using hydrogen instead of batteries, is that a good idea?

 

[mgb_phys]

How about using hydrogen instead of batteries, is that a good idea?

Thats the idea, it's main advantage is that it stores more energy per unit weight than batteries and it's quicker to refill a tank of H2 than charge a battery at a gas station.
On the downside the tank is large and heavy and the infrastructure to distribute it to gas stations is difficult and expensive.

But the infrastructure needed is very similair to existing oil company systems so it's a question of how quickly oil companies can get money out of government vs how quickly batteries can be improved!

 

[russ_watters]

The efficiency of fuel cell based storage is lower as well. I'm still hopeful that work on polymer-based batteries will provide some relief to the problems of weight and cost for batteries.

 

[taylaron]

Thats the idea, it's main advantage is that it stores more energy per unit weight than batteries and it's quicker to refill a tank of H2 than charge a battery at a gas station.
On the downside the tank is large and heavy and the infrastructure to distribute it to gas stations is difficult and expensive.

But the infrastructure needed is very similair to existing oil company systems so it's a question of how quickly oil companies can get money out of government vs how quickly batteries can be improved!

I'm also researching ways to generate electricity from combining hydrogen and water. The systems I'm aware of that convert HHO to water is a HHO Combustion engine (without mixing with fossil fuels) or a fuel cell.
I'm under the impression that fuel cells are far to costly to scale up to supply the amount of power required by a home.
Hydrogen combustion generators I presume are similar to automobile engines in that they convert about 20% of the HHO into useful electricity opposed to heat. I do not know the figure. But I know a typical automobile is about 20% efficient in converting petroleum into kinetic energy.

The purpose of this post is simply asking wither or not fuel cells and combustion engines are the only available closed-loop (excluding the required electricity during electrolysis) systems for generating electricity. I haven't been able to find any alternatives.

Until fuel cells become more affordable and have a longer lifespan and until the hydrogen combusion engine gets more efficient (although I'm pretty sure it has been maximized), electricity storage via HHO will remain largely impractical for home-scale use. Unless there is an alternative! Are there any?

Regards,

-Taylaron

 

[Drakkith]

I really don't see a reason to even consider hydrogen as a way to store power for your home. While it is easily re-used, as you can simply separate the hydrogen from the oxygen in the water that the reaction creates, that takes electricity.(Not to mention the fact that hydrogen leaks through just about any container) And if you're using electricity to separate the hydrogen, why not go one step further and just use the power from the power lines for electricity. It's more efficient and takes no extra equipment. The only reason I see hydrogen being used anywhere is replacing a battery, as its energy density is much greater than a standard battery. That is pretty much only useful in automobiles, where weight is a great factor in fuel efficiency and such.