Defending the Truth

Here is an emerging energy-related technology, for anyone who is interested:

A Microscopic Solution to an Enormous Problem

Hydrogen—the most plentiful element in the Universe—could potentially meet much of the world's demand for energy while reducing or eliminating our dependence on carbon-based fuels. The promise of carbon-free energy has researchers hunting for better ways of isolating this plentiful element, but for all its abundance, hydrogen has proved prohibitively tricky to produce. One answer may lie in sunlight. By directly applying the sun's energy to water within a special solar cell, scientists are inching closer to making usable hydrogen.

"It's a materials issue," said SSRL researcher Theanne Schiros. "Hydrogen doesn't exist freely in nature, but with the right materials we can isolate it from other compounds."

Solar electrolysis converts sunlight into electricity to split water molecules, but until recently solar water splitting devices have proved woefully inefficient. Traditional solar panels, called photovoltaic cells, can be used to generate clean electricity. But this kind of solar cell by itself is impractical for producing hydrogen because an extra step is needed to deliver the electricity generated to the electrolyte.

Direct electrolysis of water is different. Using a photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell, sunlight strikes a special catalyst submerged in the electrolyte itself—in this case, water—eliminating the extra step of transporting the electricity to where it does the work. PEC cells may one day serve as the backbone of a national hydrogen production program. But despite record-breaking achievements in efficiency, the best cells developed so far work for only 240 hours before corroding to a halt. To meet Department of Energy goals for this technology, these cells must work for at least 10,000 hours.

Exactly why these solar cells corrode so quickly is the question researchers at SLAC are now addressing, thanks in part to the efforts of Schiros, a PhD student conducting dissertation research at SSRL. Schiros and colleagues, under the guidance of Stanford Professor Anders Nilsson, are using soft x-rays to look directly into these PEC cells and observe the electrical and chemical reactions occurring at the edge of where water and semiconductor meet. By tracking the corrosion of the semiconductor surfaces on the atomic level, Schiros's work could lead to longer lasting PEC cells.

"We've shown in the lab that we can efficiently produce hydrogen," said Schiros, "but we're a long way from making cells that are stable long enough to meet DOE goals. But by finding the right materials, we will be one step closer to a clean energy infrastructure fueled by a renewable source of hydrogen."

The main obstacle confronting researchers developing PEC cells lies in finding semiconductors that can handle direct exposure to water while converting sunlight to electricity. An unfortunate irony of Nature is that these two properties are largely mutually exclusive—semiconductors stable in water do not efficiently convert sunlight into electricity, and semiconductors that are good solar absorbers corrode easily in water.

Scientists have overcome this paradox to some degree by sandwiching various semiconductors with the right properties together. But finding the right combination is tricky.

Despite these obstacles, Schiros and colleagues believe PEC cells hold enormous promise for the efficient production of hydrogen.

"We don't yet know exactly why the reaction dies," said Schiros. "But the photon sciences are well suited to tackle this problem—to understand the fundamental mechanism of photo corrosion."

—Brad Plummer
SLAC Today, August 10, 2006

SLAC Today

I agree there is drag and loss of pressure when water passes through pipes. I took a quick plumbing course before plumbing my house back in the 70's and have used the knowledge since then in my home and other solar projects.

So, if you had a water tower that was 250 feet you would retain excellent head pressure for buildings up to 150 feet even over a few miles even with the additional friction of drag caused by the surface of the pipes. In the concept I presented the head is caused by the weight of the water similar to that caused by a water tower... If the drop in feet from the origin to the destination is significant the head will be extreme as it is at the base of a water tower just due to the weight of the water seeking sea level... Imagine a river and the head pressure over a 300 feet drop in elevation and consider the friction of the river bed being the friction... you still have tremendous potential work or horse power regardless if the water is in a strait down water fall or cascading over miles.

Germans have used this idea for hundreds of years in an engine similar to a steam engine to change the horsepower into a usable power system. Here's a link to check out... Water Engines. of course turbines have long since been developed that are more efficient than mechanical water engines.

Think small first... Water Power and then imagine a water main break in a city supplied by a large water tank with a water turbine tapped into it.

Here is the idea I submitted to the energy department of Puerto Rico:

Here in Puerto Rico we have mountains through the center of the island and the mountains scratches all the clouds and as a result have constant rainfall. In the mountains are numerous reservoirs that feed the cities that lie in the flat lands near the sea. The water is moved from the mountains in open concrete aqueducts similar to ancient Rome down to lower level man-made lakes that supply the water purification plants.

My idea was to repeatedly capture the horsepower of the water that moves to lower elevation using multiple mini turbines that would be connected to the electric grid. The water flows 24/7 - 365 days a year so why not capture the free energy of water flowing down hill? I introduced two ideas, the first using numerous simple lightweight water wheels built to fit the standard aqua-ducts, a size that wouldn't provide enough resistance to the water to cause the aqueduct to overflow. The second idea was to use a man-made reservoir built beside the aqueduct and fill it with a pipe from a higher elevation, run the water through a mini turbine and return it to the aqueduct. The concept was to use prison labor, deadbeat dads that don't pay child support(compensation with withholdings for the kids) and labor of people punished with community service. Once one was completed the electric sold would fund the next and the next and the compensation to the deadbeat dads. Here's a rough drawing I made to explain the concept. In the lower section of the outlet is a mini water turbine similar to China hydro turbine,micro hydro turbine,small hydro turbine,hydro power turbine,hydro electric turbine,pico hydro turbine,hydro turbine generator,turbine hydro electrique,hydro turbine design,hydro turbine manufacturers,turbine hydro électrique,hydro

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I think you or someone else posted this video on another thread and it is pretty cool concept. Like the other two posts on burning water as fuel I think there's a catch 22... All means of extracting hydrogen from water known require lots of energy... to separate hydrogen and concentrate it enough to produce fuel requires a great deal of work or energy. Any separation of gases is energy demanding, nitrogen for example is used in farm fertilizer and a prime ingredient in terror bombs... my dad said that farmers would use it during WWII to blow tree stumps out of the ground in preparing new fields for planting since dynamite was all taken for the war purposes... a blasting cap, or large firecracker, a little diesel on a couple sacks of nitrogen fertilizer and hundred year old oak tree stumps fly into the air... the problem is the nitrogen doesn't come cheap because the processing requires large consumption of energy.

I read a couple articles in the Home Power Magazine where people were making hydrogen in their back yards but at the time of the article gas prices were lower than the cost of producing hydrogen... I guess the procedure isn't that secret but simply dangerous like nitrogen fertilizer if you don't know what the hell you're doing.

I saw an early morning interview with this guy on CNBC Financial network talking about his energy plan... you have or will soon see his commercials so here is a link to his energy plan... PickensPlan: The Plan

Has anyone watched this show? Koppel on Discovery : Program Highlights : Discovery Channel

Ted says China will start selling cars to America next year... in 22 years China will have more cars than the US. More cars than the US! We really need to drill here and drill now!

"Knock Knock!"
"Who's there?"
"September 11th"
"September 11th who?"
"I thought you said you'd never forget..."

We Will NOT Forget!


Spread this film everywhere!!!

President Bush on off shore drilling President Bush Meets with Economic Team

Today president Bush removed the presidential hold on off shore drilling and put the ball in the Congress' court... The Democrats are holding fast to their extra sweater and solar panel energy concept but the next few weeks will be a death of a thousand cuts for democrats.

Wasn't it President Bush who earlier said that congress didn't want to have offshore drilling?