Re: [GBlist] house thoughts to fuel cells

[William Dinklage <wdinklag@carleton.edu>]

Fred and others,
  One perspective in your post caught my attention as needing some 
clarification.  You wrote

> Yesterday Energy Secretary Abraham announced what is likely the most
> important goal ever set for government energy policy: moving to a
> hydrogen  fuel based economy. Once in place, the hydrogen economy
> promises vastly  improved living standards for everyone on the planet.
> And the various  processes of converting hydrogen to usable energy all
> involve some form of  oxidation and all have as their only resulting
> byproduct H20, pure water.

Your paragraph and other prose I have read in newspapers and other media 
makes fuel cells seem like a completely clean fuel source.  What you cannot 
ignore is the energy that goes into making the hydrogen.  Sure, it's a 
clean fuel source if you make hydrogen from solar or wind power.  In this 
case the fuel cell is just a better way to store energy than a battery, but 
it is not ultimately the energy source.  Currently most hydrogen is made 
from conventional electricity, I believe, so fuel cells are only as as 
eco-friendly as the source of the electricity.  On a side note, I fear that 
the Bush administration is capitalizing on the public perception that fuel 
cells are completely clean because there are no emmissions at the end use.

All the best,

Bill Dinklage, Geology
Carleton College
Northfield, MN 55057

--On Thursday, January 10, 2002 11:22 AM -0500 FUnger@aol.com wrote:

> Following up on David & Patricia's comments,
>
> It seems that the most important thing many guilt ridden
> environmentalists  seem to leave out of the equation is the potential for
> technology and human  ingenuity to improve lives without a negative
> impact on the environment. In  fact, because history is a long story of
> increased progress and efficiency,  the "fair share" that Patricia
> alludes to has been an ever increasing size  share of an ever increasing
> size pie for an ever increasing number of people  throughout history.
> Thankfully, at least so far, our intelligence has helped  us avoid all
> the catastrophic limits predicted by Malthus and his heirs.
>
> etc.



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