grywlfbg wrote:
To come full circle, no one has solved the problem of where to GET the hydrogen and also how to store it efficiently.
OK. All biodiesel bigotry on our behalf aside - what if someone *has* figured it out? Is that such a bad thing?
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It makes me crazy when people in the media and members of our government talk about having a "hydrogen-based economy". This is complete BS. You can't base an economy on hydrogen like you can with oil because there aren't vast pools of hydrogen sitting around waiting to be pumped out. You have to MAKE hydrogen.
I agree with you - but, again, only insofar as things stand right now. Assuming that Peugeot has come up with a workable solution, why shouldn't we implement it? Like I said earlier, I could care less what my car runs on as long as it's comparable to an equivalent gas engine. If it's cleaner, that's a major bonus.
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This requires electricity. So now you have to solve the problem of cheap, clean, and renewable eletricity.
OK, running with this for a moment: cars have alternators. Alternators generate electricity. Admittedly, not on a power station scale - but they still do it. Why not harness that potential for generating fuel on-board?
Even if it can't be done on-board, what's wrong with the oil companies using the opportunities that capitalism affords them and generating it themselves? If I can pump hydrogen right next to 91-octane, I'll use both as is appropriate.
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We will certainly not have cheap and clean electricity by 2010 so the hydrogen to power these vehicles will come from natural gas - a finite resource.
Sure, but that only works as long as one assumes that there's no way for hydrogen generation to be performed on-board. We both want proof; let's wait and see if it happens. I'm optimistic.
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Hydrogen and fuel cells are a great idea for the Jetson's era but wasting money developing hydrogen propulsion systems is quite literally getting the cart before the horse until you have dirt cheap, clean, and renewable electricity to make the hydrogen and an efficient way to store it.
OK, and we're both armchair quarterbacks in this regard. Neither one of us knows if it will ever happen, but, hey, there's a good chance that it might. Let's not pass judgement until it happens or not.
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I'm sorry for venting at you.
No worries, and thank you for the apology. I'm always more than happy to listen to a well-reasoned argument. I just don't respond well when it seems like someone is failing to listen, even if they don't agree with me. As I said before, though, it seems like we're mostly in agreement on the important stuff.
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I just wish biodiesel was given the same media attention as hydrogen (but it's not flashy enough - no sexy futuristic-looking cars).
Thing is, I distinctly remember biodiesel being mentioned in last years' State of The Union address as an alternative fuel. But as both of us are Californians, we have bugger-all to blame for its lack of availabilty (and, to a wider degree, vehicles capable of running it) other than the ignorance (and arrogance) of our state legislature. It's not a popularly touchy-feely technology like hybrids.
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Like the UNH artical said, we could easily convert every drop of oil used for transportation and home heating oil to bio in just a few years. This would make a massive dent in the amount of petroleum we have to import. Someone in the government just has to pull the trigger.
Not going to happen as long as the socialists in CA (who essentially dictate CARB's policy) keep doing the same thing election after election. Diesel's bad, and hybrids fart rainbows and s**t cuddly kittens in their eyes.
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