Originally posted at Writeindependent.org on January 26, 2012
Hydrogen technology is already capable of supplanting gasoline as a fuel source. So why aren’t we doing it? Because we need a president with the political will and the American people behind him/her.
Hydrogen conversion of current internal combustion engines is not only possible, it has already been done. Lawrence Livermore Labs tested a Prius that runs on hydrogen. “The Prius, which has a combination electric motor and small internal combustion engine, traveled 1,050 kilometers (653 miles) on a tank containing 150 liters (almost 40 gallons) of liquid hydrogen. The overall fuel economy for the driving conditions used by the Livermore team was about 105 kilometers per kilogram of hydrogen, which is equivalent to about 65 miles per gallon of gasoline.” Source: https://www.llnl.gov/str/June07/Aceves.html Except here’s the big difference: when using gasoline, you get carbon dioxide as a bi-product and when you use hydrogen, the bi-product is water vapor.
Hydrogen is a safer fuel than gasoline because hydrogen smolders like a cigarette, whereas gasoline will catch fire.
In the near future, hydrogen cars will be re-fueled at your home, using solar power to turn water into hydrogen. On the road, service stations will offer hydrogen to fill up your tank.
“Hydrogen can be transported by pipelines similar to those used to transport natural gas. There are some additional problems, because hydrogen tends to leak more and can embrittle some metals used for pipelines. The existence of a 240 km hydrogen pipeline in Germany operated by the company Air Liquide provides evidence that these difficulties can be overcome.” Source: http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/progress/hydrogen.html
Stop spending your money to save gold, because platinum works better around hydrogen, being highly resistant to the corrosive effects of hydrogen. Source: http://www.switch2hydrogen.com/
By now, you should be getting excited about this technology. But first, we have to find a president who is not funded by gasoline and the military industrial complex that keeps the gas companies going. One feeds the other and it’s a vicious cycle. If Obama hadn’t signed the NDAA, I might have trusted him. But then I’d be duped again! Wake up, Democrats! There’s no difference between Obama and Romney.