H-Cars

Watching the State of the Union. Bush just backed Hydrogen cars, "powered by water and pollution free," to the tune of 1.2 billion in research funding. Did anyone see this coming?

Comments

[Warren]

Given the need for more federal spending and greater involvement in the private sector. Dropping a billion or so to give the scientifically inept greenies a warm fuzzy feeling seems appropriate.

[Ben]

Hydrogen cars are a great idea not only for the environment but also to become less dependant on all the terrorists that sell us oil. This should be done by the private sector though, and not the federal government.

[Anonymous]

Its about time. In 1976, 'Nova' showed a car that went from coast-to-coast fueled by water. Apparently, the car had an on-board converter to split the Hydrogen out of the H2O. It wasn't very efficient though. The car held the driver and many many bottles of distilled water.
Other research I found on the 'net shows that rotary engines are particularly efficient went it comes to burning hydrogen (as opposed to piston engines).
Maybe with some more research, we can develop a safe, easy way for people to refuel their autos at home.

[jens]

Well, to be fair, the H-step does allow us to use coal or nukes rather than oil for fuel without making our cars go choo-choo. But H should NOT be referred to as an energy source until we are pulling it out of the void.

[Jim N]

The problem there is that coal is just about the dirtiest source of energy we have. And as controversial as nukes were before, they are even more so after 9/11.

[jens]

Your 1976 reference describes a storage medium, not an energy source. The "on-board converter" must have used energy to split the H2 from the H2O -- more energy than could be gained by burning the H2 back to water. So what was the actual fuel? Was the car solar powered, storing extra solar energy by using it to electrolyze water?

[Steve]

Until we are willing to change the way we generate electricity (like to fission energy, maybe?), we will always be dependent on oil. Hydrogen powered cars just reduce overall efficiency by introducing an intermediate step (pulling the hydrogen out of the petroleum or water).

Hello? Can you say, "entropy"?

[TomCarr]

I'd still like to hear where we're going to get all the H from.

I havn't heard of a method yet that doesn't involve fossil fuels or covering the entire country of Iraq with solar panels...

ohhhh, I get it now...so we're really not going to Iraq just for oil.