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John Lounsbury

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  • Hydrogen Fuel Technology: Not Dead Yet [View article]
    Jaysan - - -

    Thanks. I was not aware of RNNM. I will do some research.

    The role of hydrogen in global energy systems is greatly under appreciated. It has many advantages over batteries and more complex synthetic fuel chemicals for energy storage. The increasing use of alternative energy from wind and solar brings the need for energy storage to the fore.
    Dec 2 03:32 PM | 0 Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Hydrogen Fuel Technology: Not Dead Yet [View article]
    Daniel - - -

    I think that energy storage technology (batteries included) will be a rapidly developing area in the coming decade. I recommend the articles (on Seeking Alpha) by John Petersen for great discussions of battery technology. The comment streams have attracted some world class experts on the subject, as well. (seekingalpha.com/autho... )
    Jun 28 10:01 AM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
  • Hydrogen Fuel Technology: Not Dead Yet [View article]
    Daniel - - -

    Thanks for your comment. I agree that the cost calculations are still open ended. The key element regarding electrical power generation for the production of hydrogen is that the grid supply issues of production as consumed is removed for hydrogen production. The grid requires production when there is demand. Hydrogen can be produced when power is available.

    You can think of hydrogen as a storage system for electricity. That is why pairing production with wind turbines is an attractive technology. Wind is cheaper than nuclear and is within 10% or so of the cost of burning coal from most estimates I have found. Wind may be cheaper than coal if carbon dioxide sequestering and rigorous isolation of pollutants is implemented.

    I have corresponded with a number of Chemical Engineers who feel that safety with hydrogen is no more of an issue than with gasoline. I had always thought of the Hindenburg as a graphic example of the extreme risk of hydrogen. Engineers have informed me that the reason the Hindenburg had its spectacular demise was due to the highly flammable materials used in its construction. They tell me the fire would have been just as spectacular if started by petroleum fuels as it was with hydrogen as the inflatant. What we saw was the skin materials combusting, not the hydrogen.

    As far as transportation is concerned, I have met and/or passed a number of hydrogen transport trucks (18-wheel tanker types) on local roads and interstate highways. Those are just the ones I could identify when my wife was driving and I was a passenger. I'm sure that there have been more that I did not identify when I was driving and paying attention to the highway. And, even when a passenger, I am often doing something other than reading labels on trucks.

    One of my daughters is a Chemical Engineer with Air Products Corp. and she tells me that hydrogen tankers have been safely transporting the gas, both pressurized and liquifiied, by truck and rail for many decades.

    There has been some discussion of what the technical issues would be with distribution of hydrogen by pipeline. Several metallurgical types have told me that problems like corrosion and hydrogen embrittlement of metals, which some have raised as issues, are no longer problems. I have not tried to make a further identification of potential problems in this area.

    I will continue to follow hydrogen. I am not necessarily expecting investment opportunities in the near future, although that is not impossible. I do hope to be ready when opportunities do start to appear on the horizon.
    Jun 21 04:04 PM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
  • Thursday Thoughts: Stuck in the Market Middle [View article]
    Phil - - -

    Great discussion. An interesting sidebar that you didn't mention: We have been stuck in the middle for 6 of the past 12 years. Since the middle of 1999, approximately 6 years have seen the Dow between 10,000 and 11,000. Between 9,000 and 12,000 has been the value approximately 75% of the time. We have see-sawed back and forth through those ranges with three excursions back below 9,000 and one above 12,000.

    I would submit that we are not only stuck in the middle right now but have been for 12 years.
    Feb 18 01:14 PM | 4 Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Hydrogen Fuel Technology: Not Dead Yet [View article]
    froggey - - -

    Chicken feathers indeed!

    Thanks for making this comment with some totally new information.
    Feb 12 03:05 PM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
  • Hydrogen Fuel Technology: Not Dead Yet [View article]
    I believe that fuel cells that use hydrocarbons directly are much more expensive because of the massive amounts of platinum or palladium needed for the catalytic surface. So the amount of carbon released may be less, but at a prohibitive cost. If another reader has more information, please post.
    Feb 2 12:34 PM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
  • Hydrogen Fuel Technology: Not Dead Yet [View article]
    F.E.B. - - -

    Thanks for wrapping your thoughts with your usual acerbic wit. I agree hydrogen has a way to go, but there will be a discontinuity upward at some point in time. I'd like to be just in front of that as an investor.
    Feb 2 12:18 PM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
  • Hydrogen Fuel Technology: Not Dead Yet [View article]
    Thanks, Dave
    Feb 2 12:12 PM | 0 Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Hydrogen Fuel Technology: Not Dead Yet [View article]
    Actually, the Wildebeest and HTLove comments were above mine in the comment stream. They were posted earlier. Sorry.
    Feb 2 12:09 PM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
  • Hydrogen Fuel Technology: Not Dead Yet [View article]
    Thanks for the GM stock correction.

    Capacitive storage should be very efficient, except for the question of charge leakage. I am not up to speed on the technology. The entire field of energy storage could become a big thing. Batteries, fuel cells, mechanical storage and capacitors should become big businesses. So much for what many consider boring.

    There is movement in the direction of combining capacitor function into battery electrodes. John Petersen could comment on this. If interested, you should review his articles here on Seeking Alpha.
    Feb 2 11:43 AM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
  • Hydrogen Fuel Technology: Not Dead Yet [View article]
    We should be learning a lot about the cost of hydrogen stations soon. There are about 175 in North America right now and 1000 coming in both Japan and Germany by 2013. The 32 stations that Shell plans for Southern California are estimated at $1 million each, considerably more than a comparable gas station. What is likely is that a hydrogen pump would probably be an added island at an existing gas station in many cases which would be a much lower cost than a stand alone station.
    Feb 2 11:34 AM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
  • Hydrogen Fuel Technology: Not Dead Yet [View article]
    John - - -

    Thanks for your comment. I agree with the use of the term "future-tech". The happy investor will be the one who pays enough attention to be able to catch the future just before the masses recognize it. I believe that hydrogen is still definitely in the cocoon stage. I just want to keep the butterfly net at hand for when the first butterflies emerge.
    Feb 2 11:27 AM | 2 Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Hydrogen Fuel Technology: Not Dead Yet [View article]
    I apologize for not reading the discussion below (Wildebeest and HTLove) before writing the above comment on water purity.
    Feb 2 11:21 AM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
  • Hydrogen Fuel Technology: Not Dead Yet [View article]
    RMichael - - -

    Good comment. I do question your statement:

    <You say "Hydrogen requires power for production by electrolysis of water." Well, yes that's possible, but very expensive and inefficient compared to using the electricity to charge a battery.>

    Perhaps someone will comment on this. The hydrogen fuel cell is a battery process (energy storage for controlled release). I was under the impression that the hydrogen fuel cell was more efficient than other battery systems. Am I wrong?

    Also, as I have said before, I have trouble understanding how hydrogen from hydrocarbons make economic sense compared to burning the hydrocarbons. There must be a big externality value assigned to releasing CO2 to have this make sense. We are a long way from putting an economic value on that externality.

    Your question about the amount of water needed is a good one. I will work on that. Of course, the water used is recycled back into the atmosphere. It is not consumed as is the case for combustion of fossil fuels. However, if only potable water is pure enough to be used in generating hydrogen, this puts a high price tag on the raw material. If non-potable water can be used, the raw material volume becomes immaterial. You just won't make hydrogen from water that could be used for irrigation.
    Feb 2 11:19 AM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
  • Hydrogen Fuel Technology: Not Dead Yet [View article]
    HTL - - -

    Just a few of thoughts on distributed hydrogen generation.

    1. I need to research what electrical power losses are in grid distribution. The question is whether more electrical power is lost in long distance transmission to make H2 locally or in transporting hydrogen for distribution after making H2 at the point of electrical generation.

    2. There are means of generating hydrogen from electrochemical reaction with metals. One that I keep running across involves aluminum. Here is an example www.isa.org/InTechTemp... I am skeptical about this type of process because converting aluminum trioxide (a product of the reaction producing H2 from water) requires electrical energy. Every cycle appears to me to be consuming much more energy than stored in the H2.

    Another clever example uses soda cans: www.instructables.com/.../

    3. New techniques for generating hydrogen from hydrocarbons are likely. An example is work at the University of Wisconsin www.news.wisc.edu/10072 . I am a skeptic that energy economics can ever favor conversion of hydrocarbons to H2 over combustion of the hydrocarbon directly. However, if additional functionality can be obtained from CO, as in the Wisconsin work, my view might change. Finally, if CO2 release from combustion is assigned a negative economic value, the economic equation can change. Right now I consider the free release of C02 to be an undetermined economic externality.

    4. An Australian project claims to have a cheap solar powered photochemical process for generating H2 from water www.eurekalert.org/pub...

    5. A Swiss project is working on a solar panel based photochemical process for generating H2 from water www.technologyreview.c...

    6. Fermentation of organic material can be used in a process to generate H2 www.physorg.com/news15...

    7. For a more comprehensive discussion see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    Note: Some of the techniques cited above have references up to 5 years old. I have not found newer references for some of these techniques, so some may have been abandoned.
    Feb 2 11:00 AM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
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