Vast new energy source almost here

Here's the link:

www.eurekalert.org...

Hopefully it won't be suppressed by Big Oil interests.


Peace,

~Jammer

All I can say is awesome. Methane and hydrogen are the fuels of the future because of their abundance. Also solar and wind will become more mainstream once they become more efficient and the materials become cheaper. This shouldn't be long because more companies will reasearch alternative fuels when oil costs so much. Imagnie finding a super cheap way to produce power cleanly. You would make a killing.

www.pureenergysystems.com...

Wealth of information and links here, that article is terribly underinformative.

I've always said that they need to make a car with the body made from a solar cell. That way it would be making hydrogen all day long while you are not driving it. Most trips are short trips to and from work so I don't see why the car wouldn't produce enough hydrogen to power it for,say 50 miles or so each day while it isn't being used.

Originally posted by MBF
I've always said that they need to make a car with the body made from a solar cell. That way it would be making hydrogen all day long while you are not driving it. Most trips are short trips to and from work so I don't see why the car wouldn't produce enough hydrogen to power it for,say 50 miles or so each day while it isn't being used.

Flexible solar cells have been tested, actually. The stuff is just too expensive and the reason for that is the difficulty and energy required to manufacture it. Look at the prices for enough cells to power a house - it's a lot of money. Special flexible cells aren't going to be better. The reason you can't use conventional ones is a matter of durability.

What I intended was for each body panel to be made as a solar cell. Flexible cells are expensive, but new ways to produce cells needs to be explored. Maybe just a coating on the body is all that is needed.

It sounds a bit like just using solar panels to make electricity and then using that electricity to electrolyse the water. Titanium oxides are also in current solar panels. Maybe they developed a new ceramic material with a higher efficiency though.

I agree that the article isn't very clear.

Originally posted by amantine
It sounds a bit like just using solar panels to make electricity and then using that electricity to electrolyse the water. Titanium oxides are also in current solar panels. Maybe they developed a new ceramic material with a higher efficiency though.

I agree that the article isn't very clear.

That's what came to my mind as well. Ideas like these have been around forever, it's simply the problem of making them practical & efficient that has been the trouble.

I've read about alleged types of materials, (the actual name of which is never given, of course), that has the ability to separate water into Hydrogen and Oxygen without requiring a lot of energy. I'm wondering if this 'special titanium oxide ceramics' is something along that same idea, or perhaps exactly what was being mentioned. If so it would certainly be the greatest thing since sliced bread!!

However, I don't remember Solar energy being a major player in the theories. So maybe this is something different all together and just provides a much more efficient method for the 'Solar to Electric' conversion part of the process like you said.

Either way, let's hope that it not only avoids suppression, but that it also becomes readily available to the public in less than 7 years. At the rate we're going that may be too late.