Re: [DML] Re: Alternate Fuels..

[Marc Levy <malevy_nj@xxxxxxxxx>]

The goal is conservation of money... not energy.  :)

If I can use free solar power to convert cheap/free water in to hydrogen, then run my car on it, it will cost me less money than gasoline.. Energy loss in conversion seems irrelevant if the energy is "free" to begin with. 

--- On Fri, 3/2/12, Martin Gutkowski <martin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> From: Martin Gutkowski <martin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: [DML] Re: Alternate Fuels..
> To: dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Date: Friday, March 2, 2012, 5:07 AM
> When discussing anything like this,
> it helps to consider energy conversion efficiencies. Every
> time you convert energy from one form to another, you do it
> at less than 100% efficiency. If you wanted to use mains
> power to get hydrogen by electrolysis then use that hydrogen
> to drive your can via a fuel cell, you've gone through 5
> energy conversions. Whereas running a car on gasoline only
> goes through 1, even if it is pretty inefficient it's still
> a better use of resources.
> 
> Solar cells are dreadful. Obtaining hydrogen by electrolysis
> and then compressing it is pretty bad. Commercially
> available hydrogen usually comes from methane and has carbon
> dioxide as a by product, even if the car it then propels has
> only water as an emission.
> 
> Also LH2, by volume, has less than a third of the energy of
> gasoline. Mad, but true. A hydrocarbon fuel really is the
> most efficient way of storing hydrogen.
> 
> I could go on...
> 
> Martin



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