Want more power out of your cell phone battery? Get about a Hydrogen battery!
Anyone with any sort of gadget that requires rechargeable batteries knows that battery life is oftentimes an issue, especially on those long trips. Coupled with the long recharge times, electronics often become more cumbersome than they should be. That is soon to change though with the introduction of the hydrogen powered fuel cell.
Hydrogen Fuel Cell cars - how and why ?
Fuel cell vehicles are propelled by electric motors.
But while battery electric vehicles use electricity from an external source (and store it in a battery), fuel cell vehicles create their own electricity.
Fuel cells onboard the vehicle create electricity through a chemical process using hydrogen fuel and oxygen from the air.
Fuel cell vehicles can be fueled with pure hydrogen gas stored onboard in high-pressure tanks.
Fuel cell vehicles fueled with pure hydrogen emit no pollutants; only water and heat; while those using hydrogen-rich fuels and a reformer produce only small amounts of air pollutants.
Sourse: Hydrogen Fuel Cell cars - how and why ?
Make Your Own Hydrogen Fuel Cell Kit.
Are you interested in joining up with the international band of ‘amateur’ scientists
and inventors, who are following in the footsteps of the great Henry Ford?
They’re slowly but steadily proving that it is possible to do the ‘impossible’?
Actually, I’m going to say ‘we’ - not ‘they’ - because we’ve joined the band
too…
As the months pass, it looks more and more as though WATER is going
to be The Fuel of our future… and global warming doesn’t look quite so
worrying as it used to.
Several months ago we came across a Diy manual on the internet that
gives out some pretty incredible information on the subject of
water fuel - hydrogen fuel cells.
Apart from the 184-page manual that has masses of screen-shots
showing how to do all the steps, there is also a massive resource
section, including well known blue-prints of hydrogen fuel cells,
like that of the late Stanley Meyer.
…and if you’re worried about actually make your own, you can find a
small list of suppliers in the resource section, who’ll send world-wide.
To join this fast growing team go and check out this:
hydrogen fuel cell kit diy manual
And if this is all totally new and unbelievable to you,
you could start here:
http://www.waterfuelautos.com/wfvideos.html
But whatever you do, start reading up on it because it’s pretty certain
it’ll have a lot to do with our future!
Sourse: Make Your Own Hydrogen Fuel Cell Kit.
BNSF Railway Developing Hydrogen Train
The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (BNSF) is developing a hydrogen fuel cell switch train in Kansas to reduce emissions and as an alternative to similar locomotives powered by fossil fuels. The project is in collaboration with Vehicle Projects LLC. Besides its traditional use, the hydrogen fuel cell switch train can also be used for backup off-grid power for civilian and military applications.
I’ve talked about hydrogen railway (Hydrail) trains several times before. I’ve spoken about how Vehicle Projects LLC was the first company to have built a hydrogen fuel cell train in 2002 and how Japan, Denmark, Canada and parts of the U. S. are powering forward with hydrail development.
Having a hydrogen railway system (along side a hydrogen highway system) is an idea that makes a lot of sense. Locomotives travel predictable miles and refuel in predictable places along the miles of railway tracks. The hydrogen railway infrastructure that needs to be set up for trains is minimal compared to the hydrogen highway system.
And, replacing the emissions from diesel engine trains with zero emissions fuel cell locomotives makes environmental sense and energy independence sense.
Sourse: BNSF Railway Developing Hydrogen Train
Fuel Cells Becoming Reality
How green can the auto industry get? Most of the major players are hard at work developing green technologies to 1) Clean up the environment by reducing carbon emissions, and 2) Decrease America’s dependence on foreign oil.
Several have fuel-cell-powered vehicles on the road to glean driver feedback — and to see how they operate in longer-term, real-world driving conditions.
AOL Autos, 1.10.08
Sourse: Fuel Cells Becoming Reality
GM Unveils Cell-Powered Solar Equipped Eco Wonder-Mobile
General Motors has made a splash for the first time at the Consumer Electronics Show by introducing a new concept Cadillac called the Provoq. “If the automobile were invented today, I’m pretty sure it would debut here at CES,” said GM boss Rick Wagoner. And certainly, the automaker came dressed to impress with a concept car that pretty much makes you believe flying vehicles are around the corner. What’s included? Here’s a little breakdown:
Like the fuel-cell powered Chevy Sequel, the Provoq relies on three electric motors–one mounted between the front wheels, in-wheel motors in each of the rear wheels–to power the car, which can apparently drive 300 miles on a single fill of hydrogen and 20 miles on battery electric energy alone. Unlike the Sequel, the Provoq can be charged from a standard A/C outlet via one of two charging ports in each of its front fenders. Other innovative features of the vehicle include a solar cell in the roof to assist with powering onboard electronics; an “active” front grille, with grille louvers that open when the fuel cell requires cooling and close at high speed to reduce drag; and shift- and brake-by-wire system.
Of course, beyond the hype — GM execs were quick to remind that in order for cars like these to make it on the road, major advances in lithium-ion batteries must first take place. Oh yea, and that whole “hydrogen infrastructure” thingy too. Damn details. Cool car.
For a great video of the car, check out AutoBlogGreen’s coverage here.
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Sourse: GM Unveils Cell-Powered Solar Equipped Eco Wonder-Mobile
Cadillac goes green at the CES Show
The Cadillac Provoq Hydrogen – Battery powered Vehicle at the Consumer Electronics Show - Las Vegas, NV
Hydrogen fuel cell powered Cadillac gets about 300 miles to one tank of hydrogen. It is sort of a hybrid where it primarily runs on hydrogen but uses battery power for storing electricity for the duration of a long trip. The Cadillac Provoq should go up to 100 MPH and achieve a 0-60 tile of 8.5 seconds. Speculation is that this Caddy is based off of the Chevy Volt, an electric car with batteries changed by an ethanol or gas powered motor.
Sourse: Cadillac goes green at the CES Show
First Shots Under The Hood of the Chevy Volt Hydrogen [Ces 2008]
GM may have announced their Chevy Volt Hydrogen concept months ago, but attendees at CES are getting the world’s first look under the hood of the eco-friendly beast. More than just a random rendering, one can see Chevy’s direction with eco-cars in some very clear side-by-side trends when compared with the original Chevy Volt.
Our notes:
Noticeable Differences Between Volt Hydrogen and Volt:
1. Volt Hydrogen features two hydrogen tanks near the rear of the vehicle.
2. Hydrogen still features a battery stack (we were told for electric-only option), but it’s about 20% smaller than what you see in the Volt classic. (Specs say that it can go 40 miles on electric alone.)
Noticeable Similarities Between Volt Hydrogen and Volt:
1. That chassis looked identical—it’s truly the Volt in hydrogen form.
2. It’s called a Volt.
When can we expect to see it on the market? There’s no official timeline out there, as GM is waiting for the hydrogen refueling infrastructure problems to be solved before launching a hydrogen car. In addition, GM isn’t finalizing the design until they see how the Volt performs for the masses.
And as for that infrastructure problem, “we’re working on a solution,” a GM spokesperson said.
Sourse: First Shots Under The Hood of the Chevy Volt Hydrogen [Ces 2008]
Solar and Hydrogen: Energy Economics
After reviewing some of the details of Honda’s experimental solar-power hydrogen refueling station in Torrance, CA and its fuel cell vehicle several questions concerning efficiency and practicality come to mind. It most be noted that solar and hydrogen don’t emit harmful byproducts such as carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide so both technologies are important to our energy security. First let’s look at the efficiency of hydrogen and second the efficiency of generating hydrogen from solar.
As we learned from science class, hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. Hydrogen has approximately 3 times the energy per unit mass as gasoline and requires about 4 times the storage volume for a given amount of energy according to a Hydrogen Energy report from Stanford University. In further review of additional information on hydrogen we are also making some adjustments to our fuel-ranking table.
We are revising Table 1 that was used in our post of October 3, 2007 for data on the energy density for hydrogen from 2.5 kilowatt-hours (KWH) per gallon to 10.1 KWH/gal and is reflected in the revised Table 1 below. The discrepancy lies in measuring the weight of hydrogen in liquid volume. We are calculating the energy density of hydrogen using the high heat values of hydrogen of 61,000 British Thermal Units (BTUs) and a weight 0.57 pounds per gallon from the Stanford Hydrogen Report.
As a reference: 1 KWH = 3,600 kilojoules = 3,412 BTUs
Revised Table 1 Specific Energy, Energy Density & CO2
Hydrogen offers tremendous energy potential, but as we see from Table 1, hydrogen has a low energy density meaning it requires a large storage container to make it practical for use in a motor vehicle. Several car manufacturers including GM and Toyota have developed hydrogen vehicles. Hydrogen can be used in internal combustion engines replacing gasoline or in fuel cells to generate electric to power the vehicle. However, there are some limitations to the current technology that may limit the economic viability hydrogen powered vehicles in the near term. But there are no detrimental emissions with hydrogen as apposed to hydrocarbon fuels thus providing tremendous benefits as vehicle efficiency improves.
Honda’s solar-powered hydrogen fueling station takes nearly a week in sun to produce enough hydrogen to power Honda’s FCX concept hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. Honda employs a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) that converts hydrogen to electric that in turn, powers the vehicle. The Honda FCX fuel cell vehicle has two fuel tanks that can be filled with up to 156.6 liters of hydrogen or about 43 gallons that offers 430km (267 miles) driving range. The hydrogen fuel cell vehicle provides a reasonable driving range, but with a fuel efficiency of 6.5 miles per gallon (MPG), suggests more research is needed.
BMW’s Hydrogen 7 can travel 125 miles on hydrogen and 300 on gasoline before refueling. In tests the BMW 745h liquid-hydrogen test vehicle has 75 kg tank has a Hydrogen Fuel Efficiency of 10 km/liter or about 25.2 MPG and cruising speed of 110 MPH. Not too bad for an internal combustion engine that is able to run on gasoline or hydrogen.
Figure 1 Specific Energy
Given the changes to hydrogen’s energy density we are also adjusting hydrogen density (Figure 2) to reflect liquid hydrogen and high-energy value as noted by Hydrogen Properties College of the Desert.
Revised Figure 2 Energy Density: KWH per Gallon
We still have more questions given hydrogen’s very high specific energy, (3 times that of gasoline) and low energy density (4 times the volume of gasoline). Hydrogen is more efficient then petroleum fuel, yet when used as a fuel cell in a vehicle Honda’s MPG of 6.5 MPG is quite low. The fuel efficiency of BMW’s Hydrogen 7 of 25.2 MPG is only at parity with gasoline.
The efficiency of using solar energy to generate hydrogen may not be the most efficient method. One report from Walt Pyle, Jim Healy, and Reynaldo Cortez Solar Hydrogen Production by Electrolysis indicated that a 1-kilowatt solar photovoltaic device could generate 1 cubic meter of hydrogen in 5.9 hours. Essentially, 5.9 KWHs from a 1KW solar cell produces 1 cubic meter of hydrogen. We know that a pound of hydrogen in liquid state equals approximately 61,000 BTUs (51,500 BTUs at low heat value) or 17.9 KWH.
Research at Caltech, suggests that photoelectrochemistry The Lewis Group may offer a more efficient means of generating hydrogen. We will continue to explore solar efficiency and hydrogen fuel cells to evaluate the economics of alternative energy.
The bottom line is that our dependence on foreign oil is the biggest threat to national security and without cultivation of alternative energies we continue to endure an untenable situation. Further research into solar and hydrogen fuel cells could significantly ameliorate our dependence on oil.
Sourse: Solar and Hydrogen: Energy Economics
HydroPak Water Powered Portable
You know you have thought about it… powering you things from water or hydrogen. Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies has made that into a reality. The HydroPak ($400) is powered by disposable cartages ($20) which are activated by water. It features a common AC outlet and two USB connectors to charge or operate low power devices. All providing infinite shelf life and enough energy to recharge an average notebook computer 8 to 10 times. My favorite part about this is that it can run indoors with quiet operation and zero harmful emissions. The HydroPak will be available the second half of 2008. [Via]
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Sourse: HydroPak Water Powered Portable
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