[Chiron Rising]

I took this from a BP web site...it is a short explanation of the process...it sounds good, anything is better than what we are doing now however, one thing stood out...you tell me...it seems like sweeping it under the carpet again...would have to look up on this part of the deal*


It works by 'decarbonising' a fossil fuel (such as coal, oil or natural gas). This process would strip the fuel's carbon from its hydrogen atoms. We would then burn the clean hydrogen to make electricity in a specially modified gas turbine, *while capturing the carbon dioxide and sequestering it in depleted underground gas and oil fields or coal beds.

By using hydrogen as a fuel we produce virtually no greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; the main by-product is water. So hydrogen power with carbon capture and sequestration gives us a real chance to generate large-scale clean electricity using existing fossil fuels.

While the technologies for hydrogen power are available and in use today, much remains to be done to develop and commercialize this novel approach to clean power. BP Alternative Energy, together with partners, is leading the way on bringing this concept to reality.

Once hydrogen power has proven its viability, there is almost no limit to how much clean power we can make using this technology. Coal, for example, is an ideal fuel for this technology.

[shadowbot]

2 key problems that I have heard about in using hydrogen

1. It takes energy to obtain the hydrogen. Currently people are burning coal or natural gas in order to extract the hydrogen, so the pollution is still being produced. Unless wind, hydro, or solar energy is used to extract this hydrogen in the first place, it defeats the purpose.

2. To store enough hydrogen to power a car so that it can go an acceptable distance before it needs a refill, takes a large amount of hydrogen. Either there will need to be huge tanks in the back of cars (which would take up lots of space) or hydrogen will need to be stored under extreme compression in some seriously high tech tanks. I dont know about you but I dont want a super pressured tank of extremely flammable gas in the back of my car like a bomb waiting to be rear-ended by someone.

[Matc]

You wouldn't be burning hydrogen in cars, you would be using a fuel cell which generates electricity and not a force which is what the system that Chiron suggested seems to do.

How would they be 'destripping' would it be chemical or electrical?

[shadowbot]

Originally Posted by Matc

You wouldn't be burning hydrogen in cars, you would be using a fuel cell which generates electricity and not a force which is what the system that Chiron suggested seems to do.

True you wouldnt be burning the hydrogen but the fact remains that hydrogen gas is quite flammable and you'd be carting it around everywhere you went.

Its also true that to get the hydrogen in the first place you must expend energy, and where should that energy come from?

[Matc]

So is natural gas but that is used a lot.

Even if you are using tradition power stations, at least some of that is going to be renewable/nuclear so not producing any pollution. So it would still lead to at least some reduction.

We will be needing hydrogen stores anyway for fusion (experimental plants have been built) in which case you will get a lot more energy out. You would be getting the hydrogen electrochemical means. Fuel cells use the same way so lose useful energy through inefficiency. Whereas fusion uses nuclear energy converting actually mass into energy. Fusion is still a while off but not so much of a Sci Fi thing as most people think.

Oh and I've actually seen cold fusion going on, no really. Unfortunately it involved putting more energy in than out - if anyone wants it explaining I can. It was done as a curiosity using a particle accelerator - fun to have seen though.