"Vaughn Simon" wrote in message
...

"Bob Kuykendall" wrote in message
...
Don's somewhat peculiar definition of what constitutes a "fuel" that
excludes hydrogen seems to rankle some folks, but his nomenclature
seems to hold at least internal consistency. I think it's worth a
look.


On this (and other things) Don is exactly right. Looking at the big
picture, hydrogen is not a fuel. It is best to think of hydrogen as just
a way of packaging and transporting energy...a damn inefficient way of
packaging and transporting energy.

Vaughn

Hydrogen is to big oil what nuclear fusion is to the coal industry. The
advantage to these industries is that the technology doesn't work - at least
right now.

Big coal will tell you that the future of electric power generation is
fusion reactors which, while true, is at least 50 years in the future which
means that we continue burning coal in electric plants and they keep making
profits.

The "hydrogen economy" is two things. First, it's a stalking horse for the
nuclear industry which will be needed to produce the vast quantity of
hydrogen needed to fuel an entire economy. (Nukes are VERY efficient at
making H2 since ionizing radiation splits water as does the electricity they
produce.) Second, it's a politically attractive solution that is far enough
in the future that we continue burning oil - and big oil keeps making
enormous profits.

Dr. Yi Chi's carbon nanowire breakthrough in lithium battery anodes is, if
it works out, a classic "disruptive technology". It means that plug-in
electric vehicles will have a range of many hundreds of miles and recharge
in minutes. The surprise is that he just got 10 million dollars to
commercialize his invention from....wait for it....a Saudi university.
See: http://news-service.stanford.edu/new...ui-040208.html

Another potential disruptive technology converts simple radioactive decay
directly into electricity. These devices are generally considered as safe
as the smoke detectors you have at home. Add them to Dr. Yi's nanowire
lithiums and they will slowly charge themselves - for 20 years or so. Just
put your electric glider in its trailer and next weekend, it's charged up
ready to go.

Bill D