February 09, 2007

Some good some bad, but in the end technology will save us

First some good news, a large scale trial of a possible HIV vacine. Should it work this will be the best thing to happen to Africa for a long time.

Then some bad, Robert Zubrin hits the myths about hydrogen as a replacement for hydrocarbons as a fuel source. Current technology simply means that it is just moving the production of the C02 from the car to a hydrogen factory, with some very steep efficiency losses along the way. Of course if Mr Worstall is correct and it is possible to produce hydrogen at home using solar energy and Titanium Oxide catalyst panels then that will get rid of much of the energy costs of production (or at least shift it to the production of the panels. But as catalysts they should pay for themselves, energy wise, over time) and transportation to consumer. The need for either a very high preasure or cryogenic fuel tank would still remain though.

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1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

This be Tim. Zubrin's very good on a lot of it. One technical error: solid oxide fuel cells are the way to go, not PEMs. Of course, SOFCs use scandium which is why they're so wonderful.
H will only work if production is distributed, so he's missed that point.

However, his political sense is woefully lacking. Corn rules the roost and so the ethanol lobby will never drop the import tariffs.

7:15 pm  

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