Re: H2

["Shapiro, Mark" <mshapiro@EXCHANGE.FULLERTON.EDU>]

True, but producing hydrogen by electrolysis is simple if you have the
electricity.  Solar thermal and wind sources don't require the use of
hydrocarbons.  So the technology is there, it is a matter of cost.  The
cost for solar and wind generated electricity should come down somewhat
with economies of scale.  At the same time, the cost of hydrocarbon
fuels will rise with time as their sources are depleted.  At some point,
hydrogen will start look attractive.

Dr. Mark H. Shapiro
Professor of Physics, Emeritus
California State University, Fullerton
Phone: 714 278-3884
FAX: 714 278-5810
email: mshapiro@fullerton.edu
web: http://chaos.fullerton.edu/Shapiro.html
travel and family pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/user/mhshapiro 
 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Hugh Haskell [mailto:hhaskell@MINDSPRING.COM] 
Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2003 3:08 PM
To: PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu
Subject: Re: H2

At 8:47 -0700 10/21/03, Shapiro, Mark wrote:
> If solar power is used to generate the hydrogen, then a substantial
> reduction in the production of greenhouse gases will result.  In
> addition, by using hydrogen as a fuel there will be a substantial
> reduction in the emission of fine particles and smog producing chemic=
> als
> into the atmosphere.  That seems to me to be a substantial overall
> benefit.
Unfortunately, that seems like a pretty big "if" right now. All the
proposals I've seen for hydrogen production use hydrocarbons (i.e.,
petroleum) as the source of hydrogen, rather than seawater. If we
insist on using petroleum to produce hydrogen, we are just continuing
the problem until it is solved for us by the final exhaustion of
petroleum.

Hugh
--

Hugh Haskell
<mailto:haskell@ncssm.edu>
<mailto:hhaskell@mindspring.com>

(919) 467-7610

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