Comments on: MIT Research Could Lead to Improved Hydrogen Storage

By: Adam

Adam — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 23:31:00 +0000

i saw the headline and thought, “Cool, hydrogen might actually get a cost-effective storage technology to come close to the performance of batteries.”

But platinum?? Really??? Come on people, this “breakthrough” is ridiculous.

Battery technology marches forward, the Tesla will have up to 300 mile range, costs are dropping rapidly, lithium battery production is booming, and performance is soaring with breakthroughs like low-cost nanotube lithium anodes (Derek Fray and Electrovaya), self-assembling nanotech cathodes (Yet-Ming Chiang and his new post-A123 startup) and even lithium-free magnesium batteries (Gerbrandt Ceder and Pellion).

Hydrogen still needs platinum in the fuel cell, multiple breakthroughs in storage, and trillions of dollars in distribution infrastructure to be practical.

So no big news here, hydrogen is still the transportation technology of the far-distant future and always will be.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 19:19:00 +0000

I find it amazing that someone who can form a proper sentence would not be able to understand the fairly simple physics which explain why our planet has been warming and how we are going to bake our butts if we don’t quit burning fossil fuels.

And I don’t understand why otherwise literate people would not take a bit of time to educate themselves.

That said, the amount of moisture in our atmosphere is controlled mainly by atmospheric temperature. Warmer air holds more moisture than does cooler air.

Were we to figure out how to power our transportation with hydrogen for an affordable price the water vapor emitted would not be taken up by the atmosphere. If hydrogen consumption could drive atmospheric moisture higher then we should avoid considering it as part of our next energy source.

The extra moisture that’s creating our recent massive snow storms and 100, 500 and 1000+ year floods are coming from simple evaporation and our warmer atmosphere is holding approximately 4% more moisture than was up over our heads a few years back. When conditions are right that extra moisture is causing enormous precipitation.

Just think how bad it’s going to be after we spend another five years of heating up the air.

By: Mark Tipton

Mark Tipton — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 15:42:00 +0000

I find it highly ironic that AGW alarmists often tout Hydrogen power as an alternative to “fight” global warming when the Hydrogen “exhaust” (Water vapor) is substantially more effective at generating global warming than the CO2 particles are. Still, while I may not agree with their position, I do believe in Hydrogen power and this along with the metal “sponges” both look to be very promising avenues to explore.