Alternative energy: fusion technology is near
8 June 2008
This little device made from a coffee maker found its way to the top of a Delorean automobile as a fusion reactor. Requiring only bio mass (junk garbage), it can power the car for time travel.
In Japan, the prime minister's official residence
became the first house in the world to be equipped with a domestic fuel cell in 2005. A fuel cell looks something like the picture on the right.
The fuel cells produce electricity and hot water through a chemical reaction between oxygen and hydrogen extracted from natural gas or other fuels.
"The hydrogen needed can come from various sources — hydrocarbons, natural gas, bio mass or rubbish" to create methane, said Mohri.
While the fuel cells do not emit carbon dioxide, some is produced by the system during the process to extract hydrogen from natural gas, although less than traditional forms of power generation.
As well as producing electricity, the fuel cells also ensure a steady supply of hot water for households. With no motor inside, the machines — about the size of a small cupboard — are also silent. (inquirer.net)
The government estimates there could be demand for 550,000 domestic fuel cells a year in Japan within a few years. There are 48 million households in Japan, of which 25 million live in individual houses.
For now, however, the system is expensive at about two million yen, or some 19,000 dollars, excluding installation. Expected demand and further research is expected to cut the cost back to 500,000 yen, or about 9,500 dollars in 2015.
A smaller version is also in the works as Japanese automakers are busy researching a car with fuel cell technology which would produce power through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen and leaving water as the only by-product.
Assume that the price of the fusion gadget is at 19,000 dollars (for the home version) or 836,000 Pesos at $1:P44, a household that can afford such a gadget may use it for 83 months just to break even on the cost, assuming his current electric bill is 10,000 pesos only. That's 7 years to break even on the gadget! For the 9,500 $ (P418,000) version, that's 42 months to breakeven, or 3 and a half years.
With these figures much early on in the game, I'd say these gadgets have a future, pun intended. It's like Computers and Television being so expensive on their maiden release years.
That's for Japan. What are they doing in America? According to howstuffworks, In 2003, President Bush announced a program called the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative (HFI) during his State of the Union Address. This initiative, supported by legislation in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT 2005) and the Advanced Energy Initiative of 2006, aims to develop hydrogen, fuel cell and infrastructure technologies to make fuel-cell vehicles practical and cost-effective by 2020. The United States has dedicated more than one billion dollars to fuel cell research and development so far.
A crude version for biorefinery is already at work, according to gizmodo. A team of scientists and researchers at Purdue have developed a fully functional gadget. This tactical biorefinery can munch up food, paper and plastic garbage and turn it into energy. This machine was commissioned for the U.S. military (so don't expect it on top of your DeLorean anytime soon) for use in the field to create energy. It is roughly the size of a small moving van, so there is still some work that needs to be done to make it a little more functional. This biorefinery can supposedly produce 90-percent more energy than it consumes, which is a damn impressive feat. Next step: flying cars, hoverboards and self-drying clothing.
Separately, a group of researchers from the Institute of Technological Research (IPT) and the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (ITA) are working on a Mr. Fusion that would inject gas heated by electrical discharges at an ultra-high temperature into garbage in a turbine, decomposing it and creating an alternate source of energy. It would create energy while also getting rid of trash, solving two problems at once.
Related Posts You May Wanna Read Too
No comments yet.