Comments on: Lutz: Why Do You Need Fuel Cells?

By: Michael Robinson

Michael Robinson — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 05:47:09 +0000

Hydrogen is not big oil’s baby or we would see big oil pushing for it.
In fact, Shell and Exxon are ignoring hydrogen for the most part and
focusing on bio-fuels. The reality is, big oil doesn’t need to be involved for hydrogen to take hold. Hydrogen containing compounds
that can be easily transported and reformed are the future. More and
longer hydrogen pipelines are the future. There are many unconventional sources of natural gas including garbage and
manure that will simply pollute the atmosphere if they aren’t tapped.

http://www.hydrogendiscoveries.wordpress.com

http://www.hydrogencarsnow.com

By: Frank

Frank — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:31:24 +0000

Hydrogen fuel cells are dead… I think the only reason they were chosen is because it would be a way for the oil majors to stay in the transportation game with fueling stations and also one of the ways to get the gas is to fracture natural gas into it’s component parts… Batteries are far more energy efficient…

By: Texas

Texas — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 06:41:17 +0000

NZDavid, I agree with just about every you said in your #73 post but not about the compressed air range extender being the future. I think the future is advanced battery technology. So simple, no moving parts, highest efficiency, etc. However, I’m not sure what will happen. Several projects are worthy of massive amounts of R&D. Compressed air is one of them. There are also projects to use compressed air to fill huge underground caverns for base load storage. Exciting times!

By: NZDavid

NZDavid — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 03:46:55 +0000

#72 Perry
The batteries get recycled.
H2 also has to be compressed. Unlike air, H2 has to be made first which uses up even more energy.
H2 is a dead end street for vehicles.

#71 Jimee#10. You are correct. I think the range extender using compressed air is the future, unless the algae biofuel industry gets up and running.

By: Perry Kravec

Perry Kravec — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 01:22:39 +0000

"Lutz: Why Do You Need Fuel Cells?"

Because making and disposing of batteries would cause many problems. Hydrogen fuel cells are the long term solution.

The air car is not efficient. It takes too much energy to compress the air and you can’t produce enough power to weight.