Hydrogen and realism

The carconnection.com has run an interesting and balanced article on hydrogen-power in Iceland. In part it says, "The Shell station uses a process known as electrolysis to produce its fuel, electric current splitting water into its basic components: two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen, the latter vented into the atmosphere."

Interesting indeed that they are producing the hydrogen onsite. Better, cheaper and safer than trying to transport it. The hydrogen is for a small H-dedicated bus fleet, by the way. The article admits "Electrolysis is an energy-intensive process, in itself, and if you were to follow the wires leading out from the back of the station, they'd connect to the big towers snaking east, nearly 30 kilometers into the country's rugged interior...As they approach the source, one can spot steam pluming into the sky. Some are natural vents, hinting at the violence roiling deep beneath the rocky soil." It's geo-thermal, folks.

So hydrogen is do-able, despite lower energy density and higher volatility. Especially so if you have locally renewable energy such as hydro or geothermal sources to tap into. In most countries you just don't have that sort of energy locally available, of course. So we resort to oil or coal. Which defeats the benefits of using H in the first place. Of course there is also Nuclear power but again the production of the right blend of uranium isotopes is energy intensive. So you end up spending energy to make energy. Are we ever to get out of this cycle of fossil-fuel dependence? What will it take?

Recent posts from GTVeloce

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Hitting the nail on the head

An excellent article entitled 'More mall pall than Pall Mall' By Elizabeth Farrelly (May 24, 2006, Sydney Morning Herald). It begins, "Fantasise this: for some reason - dollars a barrel, airborne particulates or, conceivably, government backbone - petrol is all but prohibited. Car use, while not banned, has shrunk to maybe one-20th of present levels. Sydneysiders drive only as absolutely necessary. For the rest, we walk, cycle or take trams. What would change?".

Indeed, lots would change - for the better, as Elizabeth goes on to say. There have been reports in Sydney that the rising cost of petrol is driving people out of their cars and back onto public transport. Whilst we are a long way from returning to villages and corner shops, it's a start. I think also that the hypermarket malls will fight back, possibly by investing more heavily in public transport that feeds directly to their shopping plazas. We shall see.

More from Elizabeth here.

Recent posts - a summary

1. Hotcakes and hydrogen

   By Robert Russell in http://thespiel.com 1 day ago

   cost via the small ongoing fuel saving, depending upon how much driving you do. They are also a 'safe' buy in that they still use the fuel you buy at gas stations (as against some alternative home brew, cold fusion or risky hydrogen). Read more...

2. http://thespiel.com

   By Robert Russell in http://thespiel.com 1 day ago

   Rob's Guide, part 2 Track race tips Sydney's Velodromes What do those lines mean? Automobile links Mustknow links Philosophy links Music Links Images of the Russell, Matthews, O'Brien and Brown families in Australia Rob's Amateur Art Gallery

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   [IMG ]

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Traffic and the idiots that we are

Well we do get emotional, don't we? We aren't robots, after all. But why do we get so protective about our space on the road? When we merge lanes it's done either (a) politely, one on one like a zipper or (b) ignorantly, as in 'none-shall-get-ahead-of-me'. Time saved by bullying one driver out of your way? Negligible. Aggro caused? Lots. My estimate? 30% are bullies.

Consider speeding. Not only does it break laws, it also causes traffic compaction. Everyone ends up catching everyone else and 'platooning'. Someone will duck and weave to get ahead, causing greater risk of collision. Tailgating increases. More risk. More congestion. Worse, it makes it harder to change lanes or to enter that traffic flow in the first place. Speeding is not only selfish it's plain old bullying. Speeding cars make it just plain harder to judge entry onto another road - effectively making others wait rather than risk jumping in and accelerating hard. It's bullying. Let's stamp it out.

Whilst I'm on the subject, I was riding my bike carefully, safely and legally at 40kmh the other Sunday, in my own lane, at 9am. It's not exactly peak hour and the other lane was free. As I entered a roundabout a Mazda pseudo 4WD entered my lane about 1 metre away from me - ie spilt the lane. Now I don't usually mind so much - it's illegal here to do it though as you are meant to treat all vehicles equally and to not pass in the same lane - but to do it as we entered a roundabout!! So there we have one vehicle crowding another for no real reason as we go hard-right into the roundabout. Well I got emotional and called out 'get out of my lane!!'. To me on a bike, faced with one and a half tonnes of metal trying to keep me from taking a good, safe line through the corner this was plain old - you guessed it - bullying. Thinking about it, as they changed lanes about 1km later and turned right (so they neededn't have been in my (left) lane anyway) I don't think they either imagined that what they were doing was unsafe, illegal or intimidating. I'd bet 90% of the speeders and other traffic jammers out there don't have a clue either. So how do you get that message across?

Musings on traffic flow

More musings... why is it (in Australia at least, although I've seen research on some of this from other places) that drivers do any or all of the following:

(1) On the freeway especially they will stay in the 'slow' lane (here it's left but right in the US) only if there is no-one about. Any sign of other traffic and they head for the middle. Why is that? Fear of having to change lanes at some point, so let's get it over with now?

(2) Again, on the freeway, when faced with increasing traffic volume the centre lane (assuming 3 lanes each way) is vacated increasingly and the far right (or left, y'know - the 'fast' lane) becomes over-crowded. This continues until saturation is really obvious, so more cars are in the fast lane, fewer in the centre lane and often very few in the so-called 'slow' lane. Why is it so? What is gained by saturating (and often tailgating) one lane to the point where it's actually no faster - and possibly slower - than the 'slow' lane?

(3) I mentioned tailgating, so I'll ask 'why'? What is the gain in driving too close to the vehicle in front? Is it fun? Even more so when the road is wet?

(4) Lane changing. What is actually gained by constantly adjusting your lane? Anecdotally I would suggest nothing, or very, very little over most journeys. It may be fun, perhaps, as you get to do more driving (especially accelerating and braking to get into tiny spots).

(5) Accelerating to bridge a gap and shut the door on others. You know, you are 10secs behind the cars in front and you feel the urge to get closer, as in 2 secs maximum. Why? What's wrong with holding station at 3-6 secs? Do you feel there's safety in numbers? Are you hoping to draft the car in front to save fuel?

I'm going to suggest that risk is one aspect in common, in that some people like a bit more than others. But I suspect ignorance plays a role too, in that many people do not self-analyse their actions and thus don't even realise that what they are doing is actually contributing to the slowing traffic flow. That urge to catch the guy in front, even when all you are doing is catching up to traffic and adding to it, is one twisted competitive urge that really doesn't need to be expressed on public roads. Does it??

Cheers, Rob.

My opinion only

As always, my timely reminder that these posts represent my opinions only. If I quote someone else I attribute. If I recommend a web site it's because I use it myself. If an advert appears it's because I affiliate with Google and others similar in nature and usually means nothing more than that... the Internet is a wild and untamed place folks, so please tread warily. My opinions are just that and do not constitute advice or legal opinion of any sort.

All original material is copyright 2006 by myself, too. Other than that, please take advantage of the site, just remember to ask first or attribute fragments in the normal, polite way.

Wharton's take on oil prices

The good, the bad and the ugly on world oil prices. A detailed piece by Wharton. They touch upon market forces affecting the move to alternative fuels far more than any concern over the environment. I guess we need loads more extinctions, cyclones and droughts before the use of carbon-based fuel is as powerfully moderated by logic and reason as by the almighty dollar.

Hybrids aren't selling like hotcakes

Well they aren't hotcakes, for starters!

In short, hybrids make sense in many ways but their ROI is weak. It takes around 3-4 years to recover the higher cost via the small ongoing fuel saving, depending upon how much driving you do. They are also a 'safe' buy in that they still use the fuel you buy at gas stations (as against some alternative home brew, cold fusion or risky hydrogen). They aren't such a leap of faith for consumers. They are also 'feel-good' purchases, which is great. On the other hand car makers are at a loss to know how to market 'em because they are premium products offering savings at the low-end. This is an inversion of the case for most cars. Usually good fuel economy is aligned with the 'cheap' end of the market. Premium cars are at the high end of fuel economy - in the 'who cares about the petrol' category. The result? All up, sales are growing but from a very low base.

My take? They offer little advantage at the low end. I'd take a smaller car with the same or even better fuel economy anytime. Why would I want a Prius when I can have a Getz? I guess if I thought I needed something exactly that size maybe I'd consider it, but it's a market segment that's price driven, so you have to really want a car that size and really believe you are making a difference on climate change. Which of course is a delusion.

I've said it before, but here goes. You buy a car and it's already consumed somewhere between 40 and 60% of it's 'carbon quota'. The numbers vary with size and complexity, number of miles driven, total life-span of the car but the point is that fuel use is only one factor. Unless your new car's steel and aluminium was smelted with hydro or nuclear power it's likely as not come out of a coal-fired oven. Then there's all the petro-chemical plastics that go into a car...plus the shipping of parts and the finished good to you by ship and truck. The math is not as simple as 'oh, hybrids are better because they save fuel relative to a petrol car the same size'.


Anyway, read the Forbes article here.