Quote:
Originally posted by Noir
hmm..the last time i checked the problem with hydrogen fuel is that the energy required to harvest hydrogen is astronomical.
|
I don't know about astronomical, but it is less efficient, currently, than refining and burning gasoline. Of course, the IC engine has a big head start.
Given time, I think that we can devise more efficient means to get the hydrogen we need.
And I think that the president's contacts in the oil industry have little to worry about - the plan is to first find ways to extract the hydrogen from petroleum products. Most of the petroleum infrastructure would remain intact and be slowly phased out, giving the oil companies time to adjust. It would be some time before we saw something that was indistinguishable from the current system.
I have to say, I'm impressed at GM's Autonomy project. The caption for that photo in that MSNBC article is wrong, though. The concept shown is the HyWire, which is based on technology proposed by the Autonomy concept. HyWire is impressive as a proof-of-concept, but requires much more refining and many more iterations before it's feasible.
Anyway, I'm glad that GM is working on something that's not just a greenwash - they're clearly spending money and trying to make it work. It's far better than a friggin' Durango Hybrid that gets 18mpg.