Iceland and Fuel Cells

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Will Fuel Cells Make Iceland the 'Kuwait of the North?'
Any thoughts on this? Last I heard, Iceland was planning on making all gov't vehicles hydrogen powered by the end of the year and was concidering legislation to convert all private vehicles to hydrogen by 2015, but I heard it on a radio news broadcast and can't find a link to that. Any thoughts?

 

I'd think the relation is simply that while, yes, it does take as much energy to create the hydrogen for the cell as the cell puts out, but if the energy is coming from water rather than fossile fuels (coal, oil), that overcomes the real stumbling block. After all, hydropower is renewable and clean, while fossil fuels is not. Even if there's no net gain to the energy efficiency of the vehicles, there is a net reduction of the environmental impact of the vehicles. And, after all, wasn't that part of the point of fuel cells?

I hope that's clear, though I doubt it

 

Think of the fuel cells as more like a rechargable battery than fuel. You invest energy into the cells by breaking water into hydrogen and oxygen. This is already done in many industries that need those two in pure forms. This can be done in a plant powered by any kind of electrical power source. The hydrogen and oxygen are then pumped into your fuel cell seperately, and you get power by re-combining them. From what I've heard, the milage is about 3 times that of gas, but it currently costs 3 times as much to buy, and that's in Iceland. For them, it ends up breaking even, with the bonus of not needing to fill up as much, but how much does that same fuel cost in America, or France, or China? The process may need to be made cheaper before you see this outside of pure water rich nations.

 

Somehow, everytime something like this comes up, ends it in nothing. Big cars companies had started similar projects long time ago but always end in a demostration at some car show; the problem is always the same: big petrol companies/countries. Imagine all the changes we have to have to achieve such improvement. So, if one day we don't need anymore fossile fuels, how Esso, Shell, OLP, etc., will survive?

 

Yea, but Iceland is in a great position to actually do it. Abundant natural energy, little natural oil, water everywhere, and small enough to not hurt the big companies. Not to mention they have big pollution problems.

 

I sure hope fuel cells come around... we need to start conserving for the future (fossil fuels, that is).

My question: Isn't there an even better way, that gives more energy than it uses in cost?
For example: A turbine in the car gets pushed by the wind of the moving car. That kinetic energy is stored in a battery. At 30mph, the battery turns the turbine on, which starts spinning, creates the energy to keep itself running, as well as energy for other battery functions a regular car needs. The turbine also acts like a regular turbine, pushing air out the back (creating thrust), and pushes the car that way.

For the first 30mph, obviously, another system needs to be devised. Perhaps a hybrid, hydrogen-turbine system.

Note: I created this idea (or, at least, I think I did. I didn't look about it online first, or anything), and I assume there are problems with it. I know this is sort of different than hydrogen-fuelcells, but it does have to do with energy...

 

Sorry BTA, I am 16. No physics yet. I don't see what would be a problem... weight? Energy needed to start the turbine? The force isn't great enough, or far too great?

Please, enlighten me

 

And those pollution problems mean that the net energy situation remaining unchanged is just fine so long as the pollution problems are addressed--and using renewable hydropower to provide the necessary energy for the production of the fuel for the cells would most definitely address those problems.

...wow, that's a really long sentence.

 

The problem with Sabers post is something called Conservation of Energy. What you're describing would mean creating energy, which would be great if we could, but its impossible. Energy into a system minus energy out of a system equals energy stored in the system.