Dear John:
Thank you for your letter of 8July08. However, sometimes you ignore the reality of reality. It is the transition over the next decade, then, century, that will pose the greatest challenges. Certainly, someday we should be able to effectively sponge carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, and, too, produce useful fusion energy. Perhaps the hydrogen economy will be the standard bearer a millennium from now. But we are not there yet, and might never.For now, if you were to compare the total system cost of hydrogen or solar photovoltaics, from production, transport, storage and through end use, you will find that there are several bio options much more economical. Part of this has to do with the existing infrastructure, technology and government incentives. For ground transportation, ethanol and biodiesel happen to be two of them, as stupid as this may be, and temporary as they hopefully will last.-The action ground is today through the next couple of decades, and I feel that there is something better than, say, ethanol or hydrogen, to serve as that bridge. It is far, far more economical to gasify/catalyze terrestrial biomass into methanol than any fermentative ethanol process. Let's toss away biodiesel as unworthy of discussion, and hydrogen gas is just not ready for prime time today. Europeans are finally waking up to this nonsense. In the U.S. our presidential candidates still support corn ethanol. Unbelievable!
I keep repeating that one gallon of methanol has more hydrogen than one gallon of liquid hydrogen (thus, having energy efficiency, transport and storage advantages) and that the direct methanol fuel cell will very soon begin to replace batteries in portable electronics, hopefully making the DMFC probable for vehicular applications in a decade or two. Think about this, please.-There also remains the wild card of marine biomass, for, it is reported that marine microorganisms can be up to ten times more productive than any land crop. Plus, in the ocean, you won't need irrigation and fertilizers (if ocean thermal energy conversion effluents can wisely be utilized). Furthermore, our ocean space is currently FREE and available. However, the moisture content is high, so, with the genomic table, it is possible that someday some quicker fermentation process might win out over gasification.-In any case, today, we can't throw out our bio potential in the mix of future energy options. You might ultimately be right, but there will need (mostly because we have a free enterprise quasi-democratic global system that loathes to make quick adjustments--did you read about the incredible declaration of our G8 leaders yesterday in Japan, where they actually backtracked from the wishy washy 2050 global mitigation pronouncement of Heiligendamm) to be a long transition period that will last 50 years and more, plus, how will your super PV system power aviation? -Aloha.-Pat-P.S. I will this week publish my Huntington Post Part 4, ending with hydrogen versus methanol. You are encouraged to comment for the benefit of the international community. Coming from the person who coined the term, The Hydrogen Economy, perhaps your instant feedback can suddenly stimulate the world to groove towards hydrogen. I still think there is something about this new-fangled technology that can better influence decision-making. Parts 1-3 of my FREE Hydrogen series are already available at http://huntingtonpost.com/. -Oil seems to be hovering at 136/barrel today. There is something about Iran firing off a test missile or two and the oil inventory dropping.-Yesterday I reported that Hurricane Bertha in the Atlantic was starting to turn East. Well, actually, she should continue a mostly Northeast course, then more East than West on Friday. Bertha is a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of 105 MPH. There is nothing much going on in the Pacific, with Boris now a passing cloud South of the Big Island.-
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