The idea of using solar (or geothermal) energy and seawater to mass-produce green hydrogen by electrolysis, burn it and add gravity to generate a surplus of electricity and freshwater, even far from shore (which desalination cannot do), is feasible, practical and necessary. Indeed, it is a seismic proposal, in more … Continue reading
Category Archives: Energy
How Much Land Needed to Install a Solar Plant with a Capacity of 11.1 GW?
Question: Assuming that virtually unlimited flat land is available in a desolate desert, how many square kilometers would be required to install a solar plant with a capacity of 11.1 GW? Answer: Here’s an estimate of the land area required for an 11.1 GW solar plant, along with some important … Continue reading
How Much Solar to Produce 611,800,000,000 kg of Hydrogen/Year?
Question: Given: a recent breakthrough of researchers at the University of Adelaide has yielded an electrolysis process that is 100% efficient with a catalyst that prevents the anode and cathode from decay; the amount of hydrogen desired is 611,800,000,000 kg per year; the temperature of the seawater is 60 degrees … Continue reading
Required Number of Rooftops Equipped With Solar Panels to Produce 611,800,000,000 kg of Hydrogen
The first step in this estimation is access the Global Solar Atlas; click on the specific location and look for ‘specific photovoltaic power output’, or PVOUT. This estimates the annual productivity of solar panels for a given location, measured in kilowatt-hours generated per kilowatt of peak capacity (kWh/kWp). For purposes … Continue reading
Hydrogen Needed to Replace the California & Colorado Aqueducts
Southern California’s Water Most of southern California’s water is imported. The California Aqueduct delivers up to 4.2 million acre-feet, the Colorado River Aqueduct 3,069.6 acre-feet, and the Los Angeles Aqueduct 275,000 acre-feet, for a combined total of 4,478,069.6 acre-feet of water per year. Since 1 acre-foot = 1233.5 m3, 4,478,069.6 … Continue reading
Water, Hydrogen, Real Estate & the Dollar
Background It is indeed remarkable the propensity of our esteemed decision makers to ignore scientists’ warnings. Case in point, the March 1912 issue of Popular Mechanics correctly predicted that coal burning would accumulate carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and cause a greenhouse effect. Did the industrialized countries heed? The answer … Continue reading
Poverty, Inequality, and Hydrogen
“Unlike some other calculations, those relating to poverty have no intrinsic value of their own. They exist only in order to help us make them disappear from the scene…. With imagination, faith and hope, we might succeed in wiping out the scourge of poverty even if we don’t agree on … Continue reading
Complications
The facts have ominous overtones. As of the end of 2020 proven crude oil reserves in the U.S. amounted to 38.2 billion barrels, or about 4.89 times annual consumption. Thus, excluding unproven reserves and imports, the U.S. has about 5 years left of domestic oil at current consumption levels. In … Continue reading
A California Template
January 22, 2017 Quotation ‘We have nearly 100 years’ worth of natural gas and more than 250 years’ worth of clean, beautiful coal.’ President Donald Trump The Situation California, long the nation’s trendsetter, is a land of extremes. It has the highest summit and the lowest natural depression in the … Continue reading
Hydrogen – Basic Concepts
September 14, 2021This paper covers hydrogen technologies regarding the role of hydrogen as an energy carrier and the possibilities of its production and use. It presents the modalities and efficiencies of current technologies of obtaining hydrogen; it also details obtaining it by electrolysis of water, the electrochemical efficiency, the specific … Continue reading