Regular readers may remember me talking about the dead-end that is electric cars with batteries. The complexity, weight, recharge time and dangerous chemicals that go into them make them of low practicality to the mass market. Bio-diesel is an even worse idea given the low energy recovery and the land it takes away from producing food. These two technolgies seem to form the cornerstone of almost all low emmision vehicles being produced or planned.
We are wasting time and money on these dead-end technologies when better solutions are available. Hydrogen fuel cells are a very possible and safe technology, and there has been success with trial and even production vehicles using this method. And while there is no widespread filling infrastructure in place today, it should be no harder to introduce than unleaded gas, or LPG was.
A team at MIT has taken the next step in making this technology truly viable. They have put together a method that produces Hydrogen from pure water at room temperature using solar energy. The catalysts used to do this are phosphate cobalt and platinum, all of which are fairly benign chemicals. Once it is built this system is a truly zero emmision power source. Solar energy splits water into Hydrogen and Oxygen. The Hydrogen is burned, mixing it with Oxygen to produce water.
Combine this with some of the new high efficiency solar cell technology that is on its way and there is a true potential that not only our cars, but our homes as well could be completely zero emmision within a relatively short time. A medium size array on the roof of your house could produce twice your power needs. Some of the excess power goes to produce hydrogen for night and the car, and some goes back into the grid for those in apartment blocks and industrial needs.
I am very excited about the potential of this path to energy production.