XPost: rec.arts.sf.written, rec.arts.sf.science   
   From: bap@shrdlu.com   
      
   On 14/01/14 20:32, Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor) wrote:   
      
      
   >> That's why most manufacturers are   
   >> already moving towards hydrogen powered cars, which are a much more   
   >> senisible option since they are refuelled quickly in the same basic   
   >> manner as a petrol / diesel vehicle. It is also much easier to change   
   >> petrol / diesel pumps over time to be pumps for hydrogen car refuelling   
   >> or add more pumps.   
   >>   
   >   
   >      Hydrogen's a terrible choice at the moment. You need to   
   > (inefficiently) use electricity to generate it, then you need either   
   > SUPER high pressure storage for it (which means that even leaving   
   > combustibility aside, it's a bomb) or some of the   
   > somewhat-less-high-pressure absorptive materials which reduce its energy   
   > density effectively. It leaks easily (tiny molecule), requires   
   > high-pressure transfer, and it's not THAT easy to convert "dump liquid   
   > down a hole" storage and fill-up machinery to "send highly compressed   
   > gas into a compressed gas tank".   
      
   Hydrogen systems don't have the same energy-density as gasoline so they   
   really aren't suited to vehicular use. Using hydrogen-powered vehicles   
   is mostly a PR issue now, part funded by tax incentives.   
      
   >   
   >      If you're gonna use electricity to manufacture your fuel, why not   
   > manufacture gasoline? We already have the infrastructure to store and   
   > transport it, we're intimately familiar with its hazards and how to   
   > control them, it's got awesome energy density, and you don't have to   
   > convert 250 million cars over in order to use it.   
      
   That's what I would recommend.   
      
   >   
   >      Just build a bunch more generating stations. Preferably nuclear,   
   > maybe thorium cycle if they get the bugs out.   
      
   Most of the bugs are gone from thorium reactors, China looks like they   
   are going for it now. Someone is because recently it became economic to   
   work up uranium mine tailings for their thorium. Someone somewhere is   
   buying thorium in bulk.   
      
   My idea is to run molten-salt thorium reactors to generate hydrogen and   
   use the waste heat to convert biomass to hydrocarbons. MSRs run close to   
   1000 C and at that temperature you can convert all of the carbon in a   
   tree into usable fuel. You get carbon-neutral fuel with technologies   
   that we have already optimised for 100 years.   
      
      
      
      
   --   
   Bernard Peek   
   bap@shrdlu.com   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)