I wrote: >Palladium production is 171 tons per year. There >is no way that would be enough produce all of our energy . . .
>film. However, a catalytic converter is a very destructive >environment, with smoke and very high speed moving gas, that erodes >the Pd. The inside of a Pd cell will be comparatively benign. In other words, I have ignored the fact that more of the Pd can be recycled. I have ignored many other factors, such as the fact that in the U.S., gasoline energy use as a percentage of the whole is higher than other countries. This is s crude, back-of-the-envelope estimate. My guess is that the Pd transmutes into other elements at a significant rate, and there is no way to prevent this, so there is no way Pd can ever produce enough energy. It is not likely to contribute more than hydroelectricity or U fission do today. I hope that some other material can be found. I think this is increasingly likely. - Jed
