Jones Beene <[email protected]> wrote: > Hydrogen from solar - has the advantage of an infrastructure which is in > place with half a billion automobiles – the engines of 100% of them can > be converted to burn hydrogen. > Do you mean retrofitted? I do not think so. Years ago there were attempts to do this in Japan at Osaka U. and elsewhere. They did not end well. There were leaks, explosions and corrosion.
Many taxi cabs in Japan use LP gas, but the motors are designed for it. I expect that engines designed for hydrogen would be fine. The other problem is storing and fueling hydrogen in small scale installations. As I recall Osaka U. also made an advanced fueling station, which also exploded. That is not to suggest it cannot be done, but clearly More Research Is Needed. It would cost a lot of money to build tens thousands of fuel stations. You might have hydrogen generators at home as an alternative, but I think that would also be problematic. On the other hand, large-scale industrial installations and hydrogen pipelines have been in use since before World War II. Properly handled, hydrogen is no more dangerous than other explosive gases. I think that with some investment, hydrogen fueled automobiles and airplanes, and filling stations, could become as safe as gasoline ones. See Peter Hoffman, "Tomorrow's Energy" for details. If cold fusion can be made to work in a fully controlled reaction, I think it will be far safer than any chemical liquid fuel, or any other form of nuclear power. After an accident and shutdown there will be nothing to burn, and no way to continue the reaction. - Jed
