X-Message-Number: 24764 From: "Basie" <> Subject: Why there will never be many hydrogen cars Date: Wed, 6 Oct 2004 14:20:50 -0400 But what the researchers point out is not widely appreciated is that hydrogen is not a source of energy - it is a carrier of energy - and the hydrogen has to be made, transported and stored using huge amounts of renewables-based electricity. In their paper the University of Warwick researchers have calculated what the power costs would be to run all of Britain's road transport, in a truly green way, with hydrogen. Their answer is disturbing. They found that it would require approximately 100,000 new wind turbines. If sited off-shore, this would mean an approximately 10-kilometre-deep strip of wind turbines encircling the entire coastline of the British Isles. If sited on-shore, the area covered by wind turbines would be the size of Wales. They then looked at the alternative of using nuclear power. Although that leads to other long run concerns (particularly how to deal with radioactive waste), nuclear power stations could in principle provide the necessary green electricity to produce the hydrogen to fuel our transport needs. However again the researchers found the number required is striking. Their calculations conclude that 100 nuclear power stations would be needed to fulfill this role. Reference will be provided on request Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=24764