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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
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To: DavesM who wrote (580228)6/2/2004 1:35:19 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof   of 769670
 
Re: easier (and therefore cheaper) to break.

Not necessarily.

Yes, the energy required to break the C-O bond is always greater... but that doesn't mean it is always cheaper to produce hydrogen from fossil fuels.

When you are producing hydrogen by classic means (splitting the bond in water either with electricity or high temperatures), then yes, it costs much more then it currently does to strip hydrogen from natural gas, for example.

But when your energy input is essentially free (as sunlight is), then the cost advantage shifts.

I mention this because there have been recent break-throughs in the development of semiconductor chips ('photo-hydrogen' cells) which, when immersed in water and exposed to sunlight, use the energy from capturing photons to split the H-O bond and release hydrogen.
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