A Usenet persona calling itself Michael Daly wrote:

On 20-Feb-2005, Scott Weiser wrote:

If it occurs,
nothing changes.

Another logical failure. If something "occurs," there is, ipso facto,
"change."

My masters thesis was in risk - all probability and stats. When we talk
about probabilities and we have a reasonable sample (or a population)
of data, an occurance does not change the underlying stats. We are
talking about probability and stats here.

Well, the context of the question is gone, but logically speaking one cannot
have an "occurrence" without some "change." The simplest change is that
something "occurred" whereas a state of no change would require that no
"occurrence" occurred.


If one can create hydrogen by
fracturing water with electricity produced by solar panels, then the
pollution budget may be lessened,

And if meaningful amounts of energy are to be created, then you'd better
be prepared to pave entire states with photovoltaic panels.

As I recall, average solar flux is 1watt/m2. If we create a solar panel
equivalent of, say, 15km2, we end up with (correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not
much on math) 225,000,000 watts of energy from the solar flux. With a panel
efficiency of, say, 8 percent, we end up with something like 18 million
watts of electricity per day, on average. With increases in panel efficiency
yields can be substantially increased. I think NREL has a 30% efficient
panel under development.

I don't know what the rate of hydrogen production per watt of electricity
is. Perhaps someone else does.

Then there's always nuke plants...and I'm sure there are other ways to
generate hydrogen than the inefficient electrolosis method.


If you look
at H2 as a complete package, the unsuitability of the stuff becomes
apparent.

It all depends on what we're trying to accomplish.

The H2 economy advocates have successfully pulled the wool over many
eyes.

Again, it depends on what you're trying to accomplish. If the goal is
efficient use of an energy source for transportation vehicle, hydrogen is
not the fuel of choice. If, however, the goal is reductions in emissions,
irrespective of fuel economy, then hydrogen may be the fuel of choice.

--
Regards,
Scott Weiser

"I love the Internet, I no longer have to depend on
friends, family and co-workers, I can annoy people WORLDWIDE!" TM

© 2005 Scott Weiser