[Rhodes22-list] The Hydrogen Economy

[Roger Pihlaja]

Rummy,

You are completely misinformed regarding where the hydrogen generated in the
United States currently comes from.  The current US hydrogen generating
capacity is about 9E6 tons/year.  About 90% of that comes from catalytically
reforming natural gas with most of the rest coming from electrolytically
splitting water.  Naturally, the electricity for the electrolytic process
comes mostly from, you guessed it, burning of fossil fuels like coal, crude
oil, and natural gas.  Solar and wind power both account for only a tiny
fraction of the national electrical generation capacity.  FYI, the current
hydrogen generating capacity would have to be increased by about about
10X-15X to have a hydrogen economy.  The amount of electricity that would
have to be generated to make that much hydrogen would dwarf the present US
electrical grid.

OPEC will be dancing in the streets if we actually decide to go down this
path.

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium

----- Original Message -----
From: <R22RumRunner at aol.com>
To: <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2005 5:00 PM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] The Hydrogen Economy


>
> Roger,
> Although they are few and far between, the current hydrogen refueling
> stations are almost all solar powered.
>
> Rummy
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>