[Gathnet] MIT work on possible improvements on Electrolysis

[Jonathan Gathman]

In case you've been following the Car and Energy debates.   Hydrogen  
Fuel Cells are pretty cool (actually the principals invented in 1838  
by a German Scientist, Christian Friedrich Schönbein).

The promise is that they don't emit pollution, just recombine hydrogen  
and oxygen into water.
The catch is that getting the hydrogen isn't that simple.

The problems break down into three main categories:
1) Manufacturing costs very prohibitive to date per electrical output
2) Storage of Hydrogen in vehicles is costly and dangerous
3) Hydrogen is currently generated by using electricity to break the  
bonds of water and separate into Gases.  Our electricity is generated  
mostly by fossil fuels, and with costs of transport, etc you don't  
actually use less Fossil Fuel.  It's just burned in a power plant.

The chemistry labs at MIT have some interesting discoveries.  I liked  
their presentation, because it gave a clear real-world use of the  
Periodic Table of Elements in pursuit of discovery.

http://hackedgadgets.com/2008/12/08/easily-splitting-water-into-oxygen-and-hydrogen

Jonathan Gathman
jonathan at stl.gathman.org



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