quote: But Alberta is smack in the middle of Canada. It would be weird to have it be a different country and have Canada on three sides of it. Also, techincally they wouldn't be able to say "eh" any more, since that's totally just a Canadian thing. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Having lived the better part of my 20 years in Minnesota I find it offensive to think that Canada has a monopoly on "eh."
....I live in Illinois now and I still can't live down the fact that one time I said "aboot" instead of about. Posts: 832 | Registered: Jan 2005
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quote:Originally posted by twinky: I'm unconvinced by the hydrogen economy argument, and I've heard it before. My fourth year design project in engineering school was actually a fuel cell control system, and our supervising professor was an ardent "hydrogen economist." Looking at the scope of the petrochemical refining and distribution infrastructure on this continent alone, the cost of replacing that with hydrogen production and distribution on a comparable scale is absolutely staggering. If it's cost-effective, it'll happen, but oil would have to well and truly tank. I don't think oil will tank unless we come up with a cheap method for producing materials comparable to plastics in terms of variety of applications.
It's also worth noting that hydrogen is a "renewable" resource only if you produce it through electrolysis. At this point, electrolysis is still an energy loser from an efficiency standpoint. A lot of hydrogen, however, is produced by methane reformation -- that is, it comes from natural gas.
I don't currently see hydrogen as a panacea, though I recognize it may have potential as part of the energy solution depending on what happens down the line.
What I've read recently makes the hydrogen distribution system seem fairly, well not easy, but easier than you're describing.
It cost millions to create the gasoline infrastructure, and that was when millions were billions, if you know what I mean. It's all an investment, and they'll respond to what the people want. When the people want it, that is. I think our ability to create clean, cheap energy in the next fifty to one hundred years is going to increase vastly, and will render fossil fuels obsolete and unnecessary. I've seen enough proof to believe that.
Whether hydrogen works as a source of fuel for cars or not, well that's up in the air, but I don't think creating hydrogen as a fuel source will be a problem, we'll have the energy to do it.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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