How about some Guerilla "gas"? [RE-wrenches]

[Joel Davidson]

Dear Lawrence,

Thank you for your thoughtful response.

The scientific method is observation, experimentation and analysis. A good
student reads the literature first and then performs experiments to verify
the information.

In 1973, I used propane on my farm. I thought methane would be a good fuel
so did some research and made a small digestor and made methane (weak pun),
but was disappointed with the results. I talked with other people who used
methane for heating and to fuel combustion engines and concluded that
methane production and consumption was not an appropriate technology for my
situation.

In 1983, I hooked up a PV module to a small hydrogen generator, separated
water and burned the gas. I was not impressed. It seemed like a very
expensive way to make a very specialized gas. Later, I worked in the PV
division of Hoxan, an industrial gas producer, and visited gas separation
plants and saw their mobile hydrogen generator with its 40 kW PV array. I
still think there are better uses for PV than separating water into gases.

I encourage you to visit the Xerox PV hydrogen generator near Los Angeles
International Airport. See
http://www.hygen.com/solar_hydrogen_generating_facili.htm
You can see the facility from Aviation Blvd. (I was particularly interested
in Xerox's hydrogen generator because the PV concentrators use Solec cells
and I worked at nearby Solec.)

If automobile manufacturers can hype hydrogen powered cars that don't even
exist and make them popular, then they can hype electric vehicles and make
them popular. The General Motors EV1 would cost no more to build than other
limited edition vehicles like the Corvette and every EV would have a
customer. Granted, EVs are not for everyone, but neither are Corvettes or
Cadillac SUVs. The American automobile industry refuses to make EVs for the
same reason they would not make seat belts, catalytic converters and other
safety and pollution abatement changes until they were forced to. The old
guard hates change. Granted, not all change is for the good, but nothing
gets better without change.

Hydrogen fuel, in and of itself, will not make the world a better place if
we continue to transport 180-pound commuters in 4000 pound vehicles at 20
miles per hour on overcrowded roads to and from workplaces 30 miles from
where the workers live. In fact, EVs in and of themselves, will not make the
world a better place for the billions of people who do not share the
American Dream.

Today I live in a PV powered home and drive a hybrid car less than 5000
miles per year. Most of my trips are local so the batteries alone would
suffice if the car had a different power algorithm. I do not deny that I
like the 70 horsepower gasoline engine that extends my range to 450 miles at
high speed between fill ups, but most of the time I average less than 40 mph
because traffic on the 65 mph freeway is too crowded.

I can envision a future with an EV plugged into my net metered PV home.
Current would flow from my PV system to my home and to the utility grid as
it does now. Current would also flow to and from my EV battery as grid and
home loads change. For long trips, I usually use mass public transportation
like airplanes, trains, buses and taxis and will continue to do so in the
future.

Hydrogen fits into my future, but only as part of the power mix. Hydrogen is
being hyped by the same people who gave you the gasoline automobile and
nuclear power plants so be aware. Don't hold your breath waiting for the
petroleum and automobile industries to make non-polluting hydrogen cars
soon. On the other hand, maybe you'd better hold your breath because Detroit
will keep making smog-burners until it is forced to change.


Lawrence Elliott wrote:

> Joel wrote.
>
> > Well, that's it for today's lesson on competition. Your homework
> assignment is
> > to finish the following sentence: Putting PV on gasoline stations
> is...
>
> Okay Joel I will accept the assignment.
>
> Putting PV on gasoline stations is a good idea only if the power is then
> converted to hydrogen so that its overall impact in reducing our
> dependence on oil is greatly expanded.

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