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see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_cell and https://www.edie.net/library/In-Practice--The-UKs-Northern-hydrogen-heating-grid-trial/6810

"Simulated sun, authentic opportunity" At the University's Solar Energy Laboratory, the process begins with an indoor solar simulator in the form of seven mirrored, 6,500-watt lamps that concentrate the light on a 10-centimeter spot with an irradiance of 3,000 suns. (One "sun" equals 1,000 watts of solar energy falling per square meter of surface.) With this concentrated radiant energy, one can generate temperatures of more than 3,600 F in a chemical reactor. There, carbon dioxide and water are split to form carbon monoxide and hydrogen, the two components of syngas. Davidson, along with mechanical engineering professor Tom Chase and their students, have developed two prototype reactors to split water and CO2. Deploying these technologies in the Earth's sunbelt could yield enough renewable energy to significantly exceed the world's current needs, the researchers say. "More sun falls on Earth in one hour than is consumed globally in a year," Davidson notes. "Harvesting the sun to meet our energy needs is a challenge with a huge payoff." Of course, it's a little more complicated than focusing concentrated sunlight into a reactor filled with carbon dioxide and water. The key to the technology rests with using metal oxides in a reduction/oxidation cycle to reduce the temperature required to split water and carbon dioxide. "Metal oxides allow you to split water and carbon dioxide at temperatures achievable with modern solar concentrating devices," Davidson explains. In the reactor, the metal oxides go through cycles in which they strip oxygen alternately from carbon dioxide or water-forming carbon monoxide or hydrogen, respectively-then release the oxygen as a byproduct. The syngas formed from the carbon monoxide and hydrogen can be converted into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, methane (natural gas), or other products. Davidson and her colleagues have produced syngas this way in their laboratory. They have moved from bench top experiments to demonstration in proto

"Honda Motor Co. announced a new version of its hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicle (FCV) that can travel up to 400 miles and refuel in just three minutes. The new Honda Clarity Fuel Cell's drive train technology is about one-tenth the cost of Honda's previous FCV the FCX Clarity. The fuel-cell technology is also smaller than in the previous vehicle. Pricing for the vehicle was not released. "The fuel cell stack for this model was downsized by 33% compared to the previous version of the fuel cell stack and yet an output of more than 100 [kilowatts or kW]," Honda said in a statement. The new smaller fuel cell stack is about a 60% power output improvement over the previous model, Honda added. The new Clarity four-door sedan will have a maximum output of 130kW of power for fast pickup and offers "excellent quietness at the same time." The car was announced Wednesday at the Tokyo Motor Show."

"Today, carbon dioxide (CO2) is a hot topic. Scientists around the globe are searching for ways to store, dispose of, or prevent the formation of the greenhouse gas, which is a major driver of global climate change. Liquid Light hopes to take this concept one step further and harness waste CO2 as a source of carbon to make industrial chemicals and fuels. The technology behind the process is simple: Take CO2 and mix it in a water-filled chamber with an electrode and a catalyst. The ensuing chemical reaction converts CO2 into a new molecule, methanol, which can be used as a fuel, an industrial solvent or a starting material for the manufacture of other chemicals. Liquid Light's founders include Bocarsly and his former graduate student Emily Cole, who earned her Ph.D. from Princeton in 2009. Cole helped revive efforts in Bocarsly's lab to study the conversion of CO2 into usable fuels, which led to the launch of Liquid Light and an ongoing collaboration that Bocarsly said has been extremely positive for his research team at the University. "We've made some discoveries that wouldn't have been made in a university setting, and this has really accelerated the research," Bocarsly said. "It is a very productive relationship." Back in the 1990s, a former Ph.D. student of Bocarsly's named Chao Lin conducted some of the earliest experiments on turning CO2 into methanol. He used palladium metal as the electrode and pyridinium, an inexpensive ring-shaped molecule, as the catalyst. By plugging the electrode into an electrical outlet, he could drive an electrochemical reaction that converted CO2 into methanol. As Bocarsly recalled, Lin was quite excited about his success. However, said Bocarsly, "We published that finding in 1994 and there was approximately zero interest in it." The work languished until 2005 when Cole, then a new graduate student, told Bocarsly she wanted to work on a clean-energy project. She took up the challenge of reproducing Lin's results, but this time

Hydrogen peroxide has a bad reputation because most people associate it with the agony of applying it to a scab as a child. However, it's time to shed those preconceived notions and discover the cool tricks and tips for this useful household item.