Hydrogen-powered Mobile Phone Chargers

[bayouboy]

[citation][nom]acecombat[/nom]I thought the hydrogen they use was produced by electrolysis???[/citation]

Ideal source of hydrogen. However, this is the most energy intensive source of hydrogen and is not a reasonable option.

[citation][nom]LeJay[/nom]I just wish random people on the internet would stop pretending they were experts and just shut the hell up. It is becoming such a huge problem these days. People can have difference of opinion on what we should do, but discussion is pointless if we can't even agree on the facts.Electric cars are more gentle on the environment by pretty much any reasonable measure(CO2 emission fx.) than using a gasoline engine.If you need to clean your conciseness by making stuff up, do it with your family like normal people.[/citation]

In a perfect world, he would be correct. However, the second law of thermo is a pain, and imperfect technology does not help.

Electric cars have a long way to go still. They cost as much as a house and that is not acceptable. They are the future though, that is for sure. The problem is the battery. Lithium Ion suck. Heavy, expensive, toxic, and flammable. The march of technology will move on though.

 

[jellico]

First of all, I agree that large generating plants, even those using coal, are FAR more efficient than the internal combustion engine which is one of the least efficient machines that we use.

That being said, our production of hydrogen is presently very inefficient. Electrolysis is very inefficient. Hydrogen is far easier to obtain from petroleum, but then it requires petroleum which we are trying to reduce.

Electric cars would be great, but as has been pointed out, they are phenomenally expensive, have a limited range, and electricity isn't exactly dirt cheap.

Everyone is holding their breath waiting for a major breakthrough in energy production technology (like fusion, or highly efficient extraction of hydrogen from sea water). But until that time comes, our best bet is to make greater use of nuclear power. Most of the countries in Europe are WAY ahead of us on nuclear power production. We have been hamstrung since the 1970s because of the 3 Mile Island incident and the movie "China Syndrome" which had a lot of people fearing the nuclear boogeyman. Fortunately, these memories are fading fast and nuclear power production is starting to be discussed seriously once again.

Oh and, Lejay, just because you don't like or don't understand something doesn't make it false. As bayouboy pointed out, the Second Law of Thermodynamics is in play everytime you convert energy from one form to another. And actually, the First Law of Thermodynamics is also a factor as you will no doubt observe that any device which changes energy from one form to another gives off heat. Hell, even the transmission lines that transporting electricity give off a fair amount of heat, meaning that you lose energy (and hence, efficiency) just moving the energy from one place to another.

Oh, and CO2 is NOT a pollutant in spite of the efforts of environmental zealots to classify it as such. Carbon is the primary building block of life. It is also a key components in most forms of energy. Plants consume is it large quantities. Increasing CO2 levels will eventually result in increased plant growth, primarily aerobic sea algea. Just something to think about.

 

[Guest]

Hmmm, you might not want to be in the same room as your iGrenade if Apple decides to adopt this technology for their chargers 😉

 

[kingssman]

so what's going to recharge the hydrogen? Why not just make a gas powered phone charger? That too wouldn't need to be plugged into an outlet