Solar Energy!

[SandyB]

Sure  thats the  same we used to do as kids at home ..  alkaline  solution and  aluminium foil .. gas  resulting  Hydrogen ...

[Bertie Horak]

Slightly different, Sandy. Same principle.  The chemical structure of Brown's gas is H₂O₂. Hydrogen gas is H₂.
Hydrogen gas will explode, Brown's gas uses energy from one Oxygen atom when removed from the molecule leaving us with water (H₂O).

[SandyB]

Thanks  for the info  from our  resident  chemistry  boffin  Bertie ..  although it must be pretty  much the same  thing we used to  make  cos  this gas would burn with  a blueish flame ...  a less  dangerous version of  hydrogen ?? but yes a viable option .. hydrogen  generation at present  has  a high input energy cost  ... there  are definitely  people working on making it  cheaper and easier to produce , just wonder  why the Browns gas  has  not been mentioned ??

[Bertie Horak]

He-he, I'm no boffin Sandy. Chemistry's just fascinating to me. I'll try to get more info from the guy who showed me Brown's gas. I must admit, he talked way above my head, but was very excited about it.  He mentioned astonishing figures, can't remember exact figures, but it was something like 40-80km one would be able to drive on the energy from a single liter of water!


My thought about why it is not explored as a fuel source --- water is readily available to everybody. If water was to replace petrol/oil, can you imagine the billion-dollar oil industries and the governments controlling them not having monopoly anymore?

[toonfandangl]

Yes Michael the Electric car and Hybrids.

WOO HOO ! The American Ford Co has a fusion hybrid car that has covered 1445 miles
on a single tank of fuel (GAS) they averaged 81.5 MPG the tank holds 17.5 gallons.

It did not beat the Aussies in 2002 they covered 1459.16 miles on diesel in a Peugeot 406.

I don't no if you guys get the BBC TOP GEAR program James May one of the presenters did this expo

Japanese car manufacturer Honda has begun the first commercial production of a zero-emission, hydrogen fuel-cell powered vehicle.
The four-seater, called FCX Clarity, runs on electricity produced by combining hydrogen with oxygen, and emits water vapour.

With regards to the drawbacks of the FCX Clarity and where to get the hydrogen from, its not that difficult any more.
MIT themselves have recently developed a catalyst for splitting water at room temperature and it uses less current than other more expensive catalysts.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is pushing to get 200 hydrogen filling stations built by 2010 stretching from Vancouver, British Columbia, all the way
down to Baja, California.

In contrast with this the Americans have an all electric car The TESLA ROADSTER ( its a bloody shame what they have done to this guy) its battery powered
I'm not going to bother with their stats but it will take you about 200 miles and then you can recharge it but this takes about 6 to 7 hours.

I suppose that if you are on a trip going from California to New York your best bet would be WELLS FARGO.........................

[Mike Stenson (RIP)]

Solar power plants could surge
25/05/2009 22:33  - (SA)      

Paris - Solar power plants in deserts using mirrors to concentrate the sun's rays have the potential to generate up to 25% of the world's electricity by 2050, a report by pro-solar groups said on Monday.

The study, by environmental group Greenpeace, the European Solar Thermal Electricity Association (ESTELA) and the International Energy Agency's (IEA) SolarPaces group, said huge investments would also create jobs and fight climate change.

"Solar power plants are the next big thing in renewable energy," said Sven Teske of Greenpeace International and co-author of the report. The technology is suited to hot, cloudless regions such as the Sahara or Middle East.

The 28-page report said investments in concentrating solar power (CSP) plants were set to exceed $2.80bn worldwide this year, with the biggest installations under construction in southern Spain and California.

"Concentrating solar power could meet up to 7% of the world's projected power needs in 2030 and a full quarter by 2050," it said of the most optimistic scenario.

That is far more optimistic than business-as-usual projections by the Paris-based IEA, which advises rich nations. It indicates that "by 2050 the penetration of solar power would be no higher than 0.2% globally," the report noted.

CSP uses arrays of hundreds of mirrors or lenses to concentrate the sun's rays to temperatures between 400 and 1 000 Celsius to provide energy to drive a power plant.

- Reuters