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From: augeri@regina.DEC
Newsgroups: net.physics
Subject: Hydrogen powered vehicles
Message-ID: <1334@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 26-Mar-85 16:50:00 EST
Article-I.D.: decwrl.1334
Posted: Tue Mar 26 16:50:00 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 30-Mar-85 00:48:21 EST
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Jeff Hull recently said in net.physics:

>While I tend to agree with Lauren that there is a lot of garbage being
>passed around as truth, I have to wonder why our cars aren't powered
>by liquid hydrogen (a non-polluting fuel) rather than gasoline.  And a 
>host of other similar questions.  There is all too much evidence that
>people tend to follow their own, very limited, self-interest, rather
>than look for ways to benefit themselves while providing for the
>common good.

With regard to hydrogen fueled vehicles, let me make an observation.

The local PBS station (WGBH, Boston MA) recently re-ran the 1979 series
"Diamonds in the Sky", which was about commercial aviation.  In the last
epsisode of the 7-part series they looked at the future of commercial
aviation and considered alternative fuel sources.  There was an interview
with an executive of Boeing, where the executive said they (Boeing) had
done feasibility studies that showed they could build hydrogen-fueled jet
aircraft in order to alleviate future demand for our dwindling supply of
fossil fuels.  I have not made any attempt to verify the veracity of his
statement, but the gist of what he said is the following:  The problem is
one of logistics (economics aside) since their calculations indicated it
would take the power output from two (2) nuclear power plants of current
capacity to provide the energy required to produce enough hydrogen to fuel
just the aircraft that fly out of O'Hare Field in Chicago!

Now, you may dispute the numbers (quite frankly, I do), but before you say
that this is a load of bull, you should be willing to provide alternative
statistics.  For example, does anyone have some numbers on how much
hydrogen would be necessary to replace today's gasoline-powered automobiles
with an equivalent number of hydrogen-fueled automobiles (just the USA of
course)?  How much energy would it require to produce that amount of
hydrogen?  How much energy does it take to produce the amount of gasoline
that would be replaced?  The problem clearly is not technical (we *can* do
it), but is it economical?  Without a doubt, when we no longer have fossil
fuels, it *will be* economical, but not now, nor in the immediate future.

	Mike Augeri (DEC-Maynard)