Comments on: The Hydrogen Bottleneck

By: Arthur

Arthur — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 13:46:07 +0000

There’s a clear platinum supply crunch going on, and it may only get worse. Only this week platinum rose to a record price of $1,542.00 an ounce. ‘The metal has gained almost 40 percent this year. “The overall fundamentals remain relatively bullish for platinum and there may be further gains ahead in the short-term, with fundamental supply concerns hanging over the market,” Standard Bank said in a report.’

See for instance http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7181989

For some reason or other, proponents of fossil fuel alternatives seem to believe that all other resources than fossil fuels are simply abundant. This is not the case.

By: R. Steele

R. Steele — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 06:33:39 +0000

J. Green, go to Google and click the “News” link. Over on the left is “News Alerts” link. Click that and put in keyword “Hydrogen.” You’ll receive a dozen or so news items every day dealing with this subject. G. Holland is spot on about all of this. The hydrogen economy will happen much faster than most people think it will. Many hydrogen production and storage problems are being solved are already solved. It’s unreal how many things they are discovering every day. Nanotechnology, for instance, allows storage of tremendous increases in the amount of hydrogen at significantly lower pressures than 5,000 psi. Also, advances in splitting water to make hydrogen and making hydrogen onboard, on demand, it also coming. It’s all just a matter of time. There’s an environmental, political and now, economic, imperative that will drive this to reality.

By: J. Green

J. Green — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 23:04:05 +0000

Does anyone know of a website or blog that publishes current info on the state of hydrogen fuel cell research and practical application (for home as well as auto uses)? So many of the articles you find on search engines are at least a couple of years old– good enough for general background info, but not to keep up with the exciting possiblities of this technology. Also, where are the hydrogen fueling stations in San Diego county? Thanks for the help.

By: Ed Ring

Ed Ring — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 22:45:32 +0000

Mr. Holland: If you can provide links to reports of such a dramatic potential lowering in the requirement for catalyst, please post them here - I will make sure they are live links.

By: G. Holland

G. Holland — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 22:13:28 +0000

Here are some answers to what you claim to be roadblocks to hydrogen development.

1. Platinum catalyst in fuel cells - Recent research has revealed at least two pathways that will dramatically reduce the amount of platinum required, in one case a 99% drop in the amount of platinum required.

2. Infrastructure - It costs $500,000-$1,000,000 per hydrogen fueling station. For about $12 billion, which is about what we spend in Iraq in 3 weeks, enough hydrogen fueling stations could be built to put one within 2 miles of 70% of the U.S. population. That number would comfortably serve a million hydrogen vehicles. Additional demand would stimulate the constructions of more fueling stations.

3. Range between fill-ups - No longer an issue. Drivers expect to get at least 300 miles between fuel stops. The new Honda FCX Calrity gets nearly 300 miles range on a single 5,000 psi tank. A number of fuel cell from other manufacturers have demonstrated range performance at or above 300 miles. That’s with current technology. It will be better a few years from now when fuel cell cars begin to appear in auto showrooms.

The naysayers always look at the glass half empty when they issue statements about hydrogen technologies. The hydrogen age is not two or more decades away as people like Joe Romm like to claim. With enlightened public policy, fuel cell autos will available in the marketplace at prices that are cost competitive by 2015. The sooner it happens, the better for all of us.