• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

New Energy Breakthrough

Share this page

It would be great if they could come up with a catalyst that could separate h2o and burn the hydrogen by using the oxygen. Then we could just fill up at the garden hose or catch the exhaust water and recycle it when on long trips. But I guess that would be the impossible perpetual motion machine.
 
It doesn't seem like they are thinking of the big picture with this. They say that having many reactors at filling stations would lower the cost of distribution. They forget that you still need to transport the ethanol to the reactors. Also, doesn't it sound like a bad idea having gas station attendents making fuel in your neighborhood? Cooking ethanol @ 660°? That's just the top two problems I see with it. Oh, How much energy does it take to make ethanol <span style="font-style: italic">then</span> convert it? Jeez, I'll stop.
 
I want one for th' back yard, dammit!!!
 
But you guys are missing the biggest hangup. It's still horribly inefficient to produce the Ethanol in the first place!!!!! now your adding a second process to the mix?! NO NO NO!
 
Has the process been independently verified/repeated? A couple of years ago someone, I think at University of Utah, claimed to have accomplished cold fusion (the holy grail of energy), but no one could repeat the experiment. (I'm going by memory now, and it was a few years ago).
 
Basil,
You are 100% correct.

In 1989, Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons reported producing a tabletop nuclear fusion reaction at the University of Utah.
 
And then MIT tried to reproduce it and (I think) found that they could not get the same positive results.... And published their findings. Then not very many others attempted the full experiment.
 
I hope they haven't given up on cold fusion as a result...THAT'S the direction we should be heading for!!! This new development, to be fair, did mention ethanol...<span style="text-decoration: underline">and other biofuels</span>! They don't mention how much ethanol to produce how much hydrogen either! Dr. Entropy, got a comment here? :jester:
 
Ya know durn'd well I do, whether or not I post it. :smirk:

So far it's all diminishing returns. I've every confidence there WILL be breakthroughs to less expensive power production, but for now we are stuck with dinosaur poop. DRILL HERE! DRILL NOW!! ANWR, the Gulf, the Atlantic. Build modern refineries. Continue to put money into "alternative source" research and press on. Things will come on line as they become economically viable.

We're effectively screwing ourselves by NOT doin' it.

Take a page from th' French (*GASP!*) and build ONE nuclear plant plan repeatedly around the grid. That'd be one of the things we can do RIGHT NOW to alleviate the pressure on limited petrochem resources. The "NO NUKES!" crowd need to go live in some caves for a few months... we'll ALL be doin' that if we don't get some perspective.


Will there be anything else?? Hmmm?? :jester:
 
OH! And I am everso pleased to express my joy over th' fact that we now have available to us...

FLAT BOTTOMED TORTILLA SHELLS!!


...yay....


:jester:
 
I am glad SOMEBODY recognized that technological breakthrough :bow: !!!!! A MAJOR step forward that!!! :cheers:
 
Remember a little US company called Westinghouse? They almost disappeared during the nineties. Fortunately they were smart enough to keep their nuclear business intact. Recently, they acquired a very large office space in Pittsburgh and are in the process of hiring 1500 engineers.

They have agreements signed with South Carolina Electric & Gas and Georgia Power to build 4 - 1500 MW plants and others in China. They have continued to refine their reactor technology and have achieved core damage probability down to 2.5x10- 7. It's not possible to attain a probability of zero in the real world but believe me thats a very small number.

for details see: Westinghouse and SC E&G

and

Westinghouse and Geo. PWR
 
Ummm... Do we know where they are getting the reactor tubing now, Frank?

Reason I ask is: I'm third generation Babcock & Wilcox EX employee... Q.C.

NDT Level-II, to be precise. Used to inspect nuclear grade tubing. Ol' Fella ran the Destructive Testing Labs. HIS ol' man was a millwright.
 
:thumbsup:
 
We got a couple in this state mothball. You can have them,
 
'k, GIMME!!!
 
Back
Top