UltraCell's Methanol Fuel Cell Powers Rugged Computers

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SomeJoe7777

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Apr 14, 2006
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"Not only is this environmentally conscious but it also weighs less. Because the conversion of the fuel to energy occurs through an electrochemical process instead of through combustion methanol fuel cells are not only cleaner"

This whole myth that anything to do with hydrogen is somehow clean continues to amaze me. This statement is completely false.

People are forgetting that hydrogen (and methanol) do not exist in those forms on the Earth. You do not go pump methanol or hydrogen out of the ground. You have to MAKE them. MAKING them takes energy. Thus, hydrogen and methanol are not energy SOURCES, they are energy CARRIERS. The production process of both hydrogen and methanol creates pollution (chemically provable to be just as much CO2 as would be produced otherwise).

You're not any cleaner with this fuel cell over any other energy source -- you've just MOVED the pollution to a different location (the hydrogen or methanol factory).
 

SomeJoe7777

Distinguished
Apr 14, 2006
7
0
18,510
"Not only is this environmentally conscious but it also weighs less. Because the conversion of the fuel to energy occurs through an electrochemical process instead of through combustion methanol fuel cells are not only cleaner"

This whole myth that anything to do with hydrogen is somehow clean continues to amaze me. This statement is completely false.

People are forgetting that hydrogen (and methanol) do not exist in those forms on the Earth. You do not go pump methanol or hydrogen out of the ground. You have to MAKE them. MAKING them takes energy. Thus, hydrogen and methanol are not energy SOURCES, they are energy CARRIERS. The production process of both hydrogen and methanol creates pollution (chemically provable to be just as much CO2 as would be produced otherwise).

You're not any cleaner with this fuel cell over any other energy source -- you've just MOVED the pollution to a different location (the hydrogen or methanol factory).
 
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