03-18-2008, 02:57 AM
You are completely right, I am still burning carbon, at least mostly. Holtzman gas is a blend of things, and the major component actually IS hydrogen. The burner gets hot enough it breaks the water molecules apart and the O2 gets absorbed by the the charcoal.
But, I'm burning carbon that I personally grew, and that makes a pretty big difference, and it's a technology wholly self-sustainable if one has the discipline to keep it that way. Unlike bio-diesil or ethanol, there's next to no energy waste component in processing. The wood fuel is used directly. I suppose the saw that I cut the wood with it constitutes processing, but that's running on holtzman gas too.
As for hydrogen, it's a ways off and you'll be waiting a while. There's real problems with it.
It must be stored at very high pressures, and unfortunately has a tendency to make steels of any sort, or a lot of metals actually, very brittle. Composite tanks will work, but one still needs fittings, etc. It would take a complete composite technology with ceramic motors. That's a very long way off.
Fuel cells work, but same problems apply.
You must MANUFACTURE the hydrogen somehow, which takes immense energy, and that energy at this point comes from burning carbon. You could use "greener" sources of power, nuclear, but we're not even close to the capacity to take on the direct manufacture of fuel. If anything, power grids throughout the US are antiquated and often unable to meet demand at peak times. Centralized electricity generation is a bad idea in many ways anyhow, as nearly half of all the power generated is lost in the wires before it gets to you.
To get hydrogen up and running you'll need:
widespread composite technology.
widespread ceramic engines or fuel cells
a delivery system for hydrogen
a power grid with 2 to 3 times the current power out-put
a power source to power this grid that is not "carbon based"
and an economy robust enough to support this complete refit of existing infrastructure.
I'd say, fat chance.
Most people don't think about it, but an electric car has much higher emissions than a modern california certified car. Why? It likely gets its electricity at a 50 percent grid waste from a powerplant built in the late sixtys, burning coal.
But, I'm burning carbon that I personally grew, and that makes a pretty big difference, and it's a technology wholly self-sustainable if one has the discipline to keep it that way. Unlike bio-diesil or ethanol, there's next to no energy waste component in processing. The wood fuel is used directly. I suppose the saw that I cut the wood with it constitutes processing, but that's running on holtzman gas too.
As for hydrogen, it's a ways off and you'll be waiting a while. There's real problems with it.
It must be stored at very high pressures, and unfortunately has a tendency to make steels of any sort, or a lot of metals actually, very brittle. Composite tanks will work, but one still needs fittings, etc. It would take a complete composite technology with ceramic motors. That's a very long way off.
Fuel cells work, but same problems apply.
You must MANUFACTURE the hydrogen somehow, which takes immense energy, and that energy at this point comes from burning carbon. You could use "greener" sources of power, nuclear, but we're not even close to the capacity to take on the direct manufacture of fuel. If anything, power grids throughout the US are antiquated and often unable to meet demand at peak times. Centralized electricity generation is a bad idea in many ways anyhow, as nearly half of all the power generated is lost in the wires before it gets to you.
To get hydrogen up and running you'll need:
widespread composite technology.
widespread ceramic engines or fuel cells
a delivery system for hydrogen
a power grid with 2 to 3 times the current power out-put
a power source to power this grid that is not "carbon based"
and an economy robust enough to support this complete refit of existing infrastructure.
I'd say, fat chance.
Most people don't think about it, but an electric car has much higher emissions than a modern california certified car. Why? It likely gets its electricity at a 50 percent grid waste from a powerplant built in the late sixtys, burning coal.