Is there a future for hydrogen?Submitted by David Anthony on Thu, 02/24/2011 - 09:39
David Anthony's blog·
171 reads·
Email this page·
Unsubscribe from: This post·Subscribe to: Posts by David Anthony·Printer-friendly version·
Printer-friendly version

Average:
Select ratingPoorOkayGoodGreatAwesome
PoorOkayGoodGreatAwesome
Your rating: None Average: 4.5 (2 votes)
In short, there are three reasons for the failure of hydrogen fuel cells to reach mass penetration, even though billions of dollars have been spent on the technology by both the private and public sector for the past 50 years:

1. Cost
2. Cost
3. Cost

Simply put— hydrogen fuel cells produce electricity or as physicists would say "work" at too high a cost to compete with traditional energy products. To date, there has been no mass application that uses hydrogen fuel cells economically. With so much money over so many years, why is there so little to show for it? Yes, there is no CO2 emission and yes there are potential enormous applications which I will get to later, but first let's look at the reality of hydrogen fuel cells in 2011.

Market Opportunities of Hydrogen
Let's take a look at the automobile market as an example. An automobile manufacturer today produces an internal combustion engine for about $3000 cost. Assuming that this engine is about 80 horsepower (hp), its electrical equivalent is about 60,000 watts or 60 kilowatts (kW). Today's fuel cells cost about $1000 per kW. Therefore a fuel cell needed to power a moderate sized automobile costs about $60,000. To meet the cost of $3000, there needs to be a 20 fold reduction in cost down to about $50 per kW. To reach a cost that would allow an automobile of marketable cost, a cost of $200 per kW or total engine cost of $12,000 would probably work. Such an engine cost would allow an automobile to be marketed for around $30,000. Such a price point would be attractive since the product has other attractive attributes suc

Generating Energy Storage & A Combination Renewable Energy System



"It is cheaper to save energy than make energy"



Any renewable energy system that is installed should have extra capacity and be able to convert water into hydrogen which will be used to power a hydrogen generator as a back-up power source.



We should install a renewable energy system that utilizes solar & wind, when possible add geothermal to the mix.



A design is needed for a renewable energy system that can generate electricity and heat water with a step down mixer allowing the system to provide water hot enough for radiant heating and at the same time utilize a step down mixing valve to reduce the water temperature to be able its use for hot water in normal consumption.



A thermal renewable energy system may be able to provide both.



Prior to sizing up a renewable energy system, an energy audit should be conducted and energy efficiency recommendations should be implemented, that includes changing habits in utilizing energy and utilities in general.



Habitual changes can save between 20 to 50% of energy & utility consumption.

When people are considerate not to waste, they save resources and money.



YJ Draiman, Energy/Utility Analyst



Draiman for Mayor of Los Angeles 2013

Looking on the bright side - this is an indication that solar has finally made it. Now it's a valuable commodity rather than a wierd science project. Wonder when the first horse thief started stealing automobiles.

Theft is not as big an issue as you all are making it out to be, any company that installs with rebates has to submit a list containing all of the serial numbers of each panel. the same go's for the lease program. stolen modules can not be used twice as part of the program.and might I suggest all manufacturers set up free registration sites for customers to log in and register their panels. If the site gets a report that a customer had the panels stolen then they can void the warranty as a way to help deter theft and if stolen panels are registered a second time the police will no where to look. Simple but affective. My 2 cents.

You know what, Just register all serial numbers with NCIS The Police National network and let your Tax dollars find them. and as for the California thefts, they wind up in Mexico I am sure at some drug lab. and alarms do not cost 10,000 bucks.. all you need is a single cut wire to set off alarms. or a motion sensor activated light and or alarm.