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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: combjelly who wrote (337902)	5/18/2007 11:55:59 AM
From: bentway	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1573691

I don't know if you've driven west on I-10 to El Paso lately, but if you do, you'll see a LOT of e-windmills, and little else as far as human construction, other than the highway. Seems like an excellent use of windy, empty, dry west Texas.. desertskywind.com

To: combjelly who wrote (337902)	5/18/2007 12:05:45 PM
From: Road Walker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1573691

re: It is always a question of scale. If the idea is to produce "power parks" where an attempt is made to generate the most power in the smallest area, then there will be environmental problems. I agree. Ultimately distributed power generation will win out. Solar and wind generation on roofs and other surfaces, with back up probably from nuke plants and some renewable "farms". Also you lose less efficiency to transmission. Wish we could step it up... I would like to see the conversion to renewable energy and electric vehicles in my lifetime. The world will be a quieter and cleaner place.

To: combjelly who wrote (337902)	5/18/2007 9:46:16 PM
From: Road Walker	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1573691

Fill your car up with aluminum Researcher: Aluminum-based pellets make hydrogen when wet, offering alternative fuel source. May 18 2007: 12:34 PM EDT CHICAGO (Reuters) -- Pellets made out of aluminum and gallium can produce pure hydrogen when water is poured on them, offering a possible alternative to gasoline-powered engines, U.S. scientists say. Hydrogen is seen as the ultimate in clean fuels, especially for powering cars, because it emits only water when burned. U.S. President George W. Bush has proclaimed hydrogen to be the fuel of the future, but researchers have not decided what is the most efficient way to produce and store hydrogen. Honda says it will begin leasing the Honda FCX hydrogen fuel-cell powered car next year. Photo Gallery See more photos In the experiment conducted at Purdue University in Indiana, "The hydrogen is generated on demand, so you only produce as much as you need when you need it," said Jerry Woodall, an engineering professor at Purdue who invented the system. Woodall said in a statement the hydrogen would not have to be stored or transported, taking care of two stumbling blocks to generating hydrogen. For now, the Purdue scientists think the system could be used for smaller engines like lawn mowers and chain saws. But they think it would work for cars and trucks as well, either as a replacement for gasoline or as a means of powering hydrogen fuel cells. "It is one of the more feasible ideas out there," Jay Gore, an engineering professor and interim director of the Energy Center at Purdue's Discovery Park, said in a telephone interview on Thursday. "It's a very simple idea but had not been done before." On its own, aluminum will not react with water because it forms a protective skin when exposed to oxygen. Adding gallium keeps the film from forming, allowing the aluminum to react with oxygen in the water, releasing hydrogen and aluminum oxide, also known as alumina. What is left over is aluminum oxide and gallium. In the engine, the byproduct of burning hydrogen is water. "No toxic fumes are produced," Woodall said. Based on current energy and raw materials prices, the cost of making the hydrogen fuel is about $3 per gasoline-gallon equivalent, about the same as the average price of gasoline in the United States. (A gallon equivalent is based on the amount of energy contained in the fuel.) Recycling the aluminum oxide byproduct and developing a lower grade of gallium could bring down costs, making the system more affordable, Woodall said. money.cnn.com