The Green Optimistic

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Trying to make hydrogen a viable fuel, economically and energetically, a team of researchers from Idaho National Laboratory splits water steam into hydrogen and oxygen using electrolysis, but from steam, and at a high temperature.

From now on, the people with motion disabilities will go green. Mitsubishi Gas Chemical exhibited last week a fuel cell power unit suited for small applications, such as powering an electric wheelchair. It has the size of a microwave oven, weighs 22 kg, and outputs 300W.

MIT researchers found out a way to create energy by mimicking the photosynthesis process that green plants acquire their energy from. Prof. Daniel G. Nocera and former MIT graduate student Alan F. Heyduk invented a hydrogen-producing compound. They also use a catalyst and small amounts of light.

Michael Strizki’s house is the most low impact house I’ve ever seen. He lives his life off-grid, because his home system feature solar panels, 10 hydrogen tanks filled with the excess energy from the solar panels, with the hydrogen taken out of water, and a 15 year-old geothermal system, that covered its price 8 times since it was installed.

This video is a clip from a 1978 CBC News, showing Jack Nicholson driving a hydrogen powered car. The concept existed since then, the hydrogen was packed in high pressure tanks, and the engine’s timing (top dead center) was retarded a bit (probably 8 degrees, it’s a common value). And, as extra value, the hydrogen was obtained from solar power, through some solar panels, cutting edge tech at that time.

A British company, ITM, has invented a device that does electrolysis and splits water into hydrogen. They even modified a Ford Focus to run on the hydrogen they make(basically no big deal, just a few adjustments to the top dead center of the pistons and a little chip tricking on the exhaust).

In their search to make better fuel cells, a research team from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in collaboration with the University of Liverpool, has discovered a new structure that moves oxygen ions through the cell at substantially lower temperatures than previously thought possible.

The Russian scientists invented a laptop battery that lasts 10 hours on a consumption of 20W. The battery represents in fact a fuel cell created using nanotechnologies. According to the scientists led by Lev Trusov, by the end of 2009 fuel cells will be launched into production with 10 thousand monthly units. The project has [...]