AMERICAN CREATIVITY ASSOCIATION – AUSTIN GLOBAL “Building a more creative society” Creativity Today - Thursday, June 6, 2013 Reports of the Death of the Hydrogen Car are Premature Good ideas don’t die. Sometimes they just linger around for a time until something in the environment shifts, which makes a particular idea relevant once again. Such is the case with the hydrogen car. Improvements in technology are a big reason for the turnaround. The use of expensive platinum in fuel cells has been reduced by eighty percent, accounting for much of the improvement. Platinum is the catalyst in the fuel cell that strips electrons from the hydrogen gas, which is used to generate the electric current. The other big change is the fracking of natural gas. This has drastically increased the supply of natural gas and lowered its price. The major component of natural gas is methane. A process known as steam reforming transforms methane into hydrogen, which due to lower price of natural gas is increasing becoming competitive with gasoline prices. These and other factors have recently prompted the U.S. Department of Energy to launch a public-private program called H2USA. The program is forming teams of researchers from the government and the automakers to find ways to make an affordable hydrogen car. Much of the action is based at the Center for Infrastructure Research and Innovation (CIRI). The Center is working on a number of infrastructure issues, such as the design of practical hydrogen fueling stations. Read more at the link. Quote of the Day: “Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous patience.” Admiral Hyman Rickover scientificamerican/article.cfm?id=return-of-the-hydrogen-car
Posted on: Thu, 06 Jun 2013 19:58:48 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015