dagblog - Comments for "Cheap Catalyst Could Turn Sunlight, Water Into Fuel"

Except the water always gets

acanuck — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 03:43:55 +0000

Except the water always gets recycled. It only stays separate hydrogen and oxygen molecules while we're using it to store energy. Then it's water again.

I wonder if any of them

Beetlejuice — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 00:31:32 +0000

In reply to Cheap Catalyst Could Turn Sunlight, Water Into Fuel

I wonder if any of them thought thru all the possibilities of their invention. For instance, there's a limited amount of H20 available...yeah it's a shitload, but it's limited. And what is there is used by other lifeforms to create a sustainable global food chain. But if you look at the 7% growth rate of consumption of fossil fuels once the auto was introduced, one would discover we've sucked up a hell of a lot of the slimy, stinky stuff and our appetites have yet to be sated. Move that demand over to H20 and Mars will be our sister planet, not Venus. I have my druthers about messing with eco-systems, especially if it destroys habitat that provides global sustenance to all lifeforms. Unfortunately, the by-product of energy creation is exhausting resources and what's left has little to no value or use.

We discussed this here a few

acanuck — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 17:57:10 +0000

In reply to Cheap Catalyst Could Turn Sunlight, Water Into Fuel

We discussed this here a few weeks back, when it was being touted as an "artificial leaf." At the time, I questioned the economics and claims that commercialization was imminent. What appears to be new is that Nocera and his MIT associates have finally published a scientific paper. But it deals with just one aspect of the total process, the development of a new, cheap, more efficient catalyst. The new report concedes there are no estimates for costs, much research remains to be done, and it will be years before practical devices hit the market. This sounds like promising research, but I'm really leery about how it's being hyped in the popular-science media.

Even if they're getting cheap

Donal — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 16:49:39 +0000

In reply to Cheap Catalyst Could Turn Sunlight, Water Into Fuel

Even if they're getting cheap hydrogen, I have read many caveats about using hydrogen as a fuel. It is so diffuse that you want to pressurize it for transport, but it is difficult to store at pressure.