On a more realistic note there is a company in Denver Colorado that has been converting internal combustion engines to run on hydrogen. It has been a while since I looked at their offerings. They were only interested in fleet scale operations.

I recall that the Wankel engine is more suited to running on hydrogen then piston engines. I wonder if there has been any progress on that front.

__________________
search engine for electronic parts
Junebug USB PIC programmer kit., USB Bit Wacker, 3v0's Homepage
The 15 Minute Printed Circuit Board! (+drill time)

 

Thanks Steve... Okay, so the hydrogen tank holds 4.5 kg, and last somewhere between 200 and 400 miles. Now to figure out how much energy it would take to generate 4.5 kg, 350 bar of hydrogen. Then go to a solar power site, use their calculator, and get number/size panels.

Anyway, the Ford car isn't full hydrogen power, batteries still need to be plugged into a charger.

For my driving needs, probably would have to fill the hydrogen once a week. I think a modest size solar array could handle it. Unfortunately, the cost of replacing the batteries and fuel cell, would kill any hope of saving money. It's about reducing emmisions anyway, right?

 

You have to take into account all the emissions from all the processes that were required to make the battery pack and all the other materials and devices in the vehicle as well. Actually quantifying the effects of a vehicles construction on the environment as well as it's running pollution is really undefined territory.

__________________

 

I don't think there would be a major difference in manufacturing pollution. The lithium batteries would be a concern, don't think they are recycliable, probably a little toxic. Still think no emmissions, and a reduced dependency on fossil fuels a huge benefit

Funny thing, use less petroleum for fuel, but will most likey use more in plastics to build lightweight cars...

 

Well it does depend on how long you drive the car before replacing it. If you drive it for 5 or 10 years, the costs from saving fuel from driving a lighter car might outweigh the costs of fueling a heavier car over that period of time.

If you replace your car every year though, that's a different story.

 

yes and how much energy to carry that precious petrol is used ? and once it is used it is used, petrol can be carried for thousands of miles before put to use

__________________
I AM the exeption that disproves the rule in many ways but the rules still apply (unfortunately)

my site:www.simons-photography.com
http://rushdenrotaract.org.uk
see also
http://www.bigstockphoto.com/account...fid=m2URATYch5
http://www.redbubble.com/people/simonsphotography

 

What're we going to do when in 50 years all the improperly disposed of Lithium batteries start leeching into the ground water and the population at large is being accidentally medicated with a mood stabilizer en masse. Oh the irony.

__________________

 

Lithium is used to treat bipolar disorders? If you aren't bipolar, will ingesting lithium make you one, or is that two or more?

 

no actually I don't agree with the wide use of batteries another method needs to be used because also the batteries are so heavy it requires more power, it would be like a 50 litre petrol tank needing a 200 KG storage system

__________________
I AM the exeption that disproves the rule in many ways but the rules still apply (unfortunately)

my site:www.simons-photography.com
http://rushdenrotaract.org.uk
see also
http://www.bigstockphoto.com/account...fid=m2URATYch5
http://www.redbubble.com/people/simonsphotography

 

But can you find a more efficient and 'reasonably priced' system?.

__________________
PIC programmer software, and PIC Tutorials at:
http://www.winpicprog.co.uk

 

Lithium is a 'mood stabilizer' it's used for bipolar disorder because it's one of the few drugs that surpress both mania and depression. I've two friends that were on it at some point, neither had good things to say about it, mood supressor is a better term. Problem is it affects all emotions not just the one's associated with the disorder so it can drastically alter personality.

__________________

 

I'm sure it's not just as simple as eating lithium. Lithium is a very reactive metal, it reacts with water and probably very violently with stomach acid. I imagine they use lithium salts or other compounds which won't react so violently.

__________________
I also post at the following sites:
http://www.stop-microsoft.org http://www.heated-debates.com
Screen name: Aloone_Jonez

 

Funny, Lithium salts are exactly what the medical uses for Lithium are based on, and actually for a battery the entire reason they use Lithium in the first place is that it's highly reactive (and light) so in a power cell it's likley going to be in it's most reactive state, once that is released into the ground it's going to react, perhaps with something common like limestone to form a Lithium salt that would end up in ground water.

__________________

 

Not that I know of. Wankels don't rewrite the book on combustion or anything. In fact it seems like the lack of charge-cooling that you'd get with gasoline is bad news for the rotor.

Hydrogen in a combustion engine's such a bust. It just can't be stored in a useful density. Compressing it requires buttloads of energy and yields only a few lbs of hydrogen in moderate-sized tank which won't get you all that far. Crygenic refrigeration yields a more useful density, but requires pretty phenomenal amounts of energy as well as being difficult to store in a consumer setting.

A fuel cell gets many times the efficiency of ICE and electric drive trains are easy to use with regenerative braking. Hydrogen storage limitations are significantly less problematic since less mass is required for a practical range.

__________________
I thought what I'd do was I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes.

 

Forget solar panels. The sun provides LOADS of power to the Earth, we just can't harness most of it with solar panels.
Solar furnaces are a completely different thing, because they use the infra-red radiation, concentrated to a small area with many hundreds of mirrors, that can then be used to melt salts to store the energy, boil water to drive turbines, or anything else that you can think of.

You lot should also read this:
"Infrared photovoltaic cells – which transform infrared light into electricity - are attracting much attention, as nearly half of the approximately 1000Wm3 of the intensity of sunlight is within the invisible infrared region. So it is possible to use the visible half for direct lighting while harvesting the invisible for generating electricity [3]. Photovoltaic cells that respond to infrared – ‘thermovoltaics’ - can even capture radiation from a fuel-fire emitter; and co-generation of electricity and heat are said to be quiet, reliable, clean and efficient. A 1 cm2 silicon cell in direct sunlight will generate about 0.01W, but an efficient infrared photovoltaic cell of equal size can produce theoretically 1W in a fuel-fired system." - http://www.i-sis.org.uk/QDAUESC.php