Reply #10: Read carefully about EROEI [View All]

[Ezlivin]

Energy Return On Energy Invested

Would you like an investment that costs you two dollars for every one you earn? I certainly hope not.

Hydrogen is an energy carrier, not an energy source. There is no one-to-one correlation between it and petroleum.

Hydrogen requires more energy to manufacture than it carries. (Re: The aforementioned investment.)

Okay, let's say I'm on board with your method of hydrogen generation. What energy source was used to manufacture the solar cells? And the wind turbines? Petroleum you say? Fine. Let's crank out those solar cells and turbines while we still have the oil to run the machines. Skip to the future we hope to help. Now the oil is gone or reserved for the military/government. We need replacement parts for those aging turbines. Is the factory hydrogen powered? Are the plastics and other materials derived from petroleum being made of something else? And crank up that solar cell factory (solar cells have a lifetime of about 20 years). Hope that facility is also running from some sort of alternate fuel. And so on....

Here's whose payroll I'm on: My family's. I want the best for my family and I'm installing solar cells, fans, geothermal HVAC, energy-efficient appliances and every other thing I can do. I telecommute, work from home and set my thermostat at 80° in the summer. And I love science fiction.

Oh, and by the way, the Lucerne Fuel Cell Conference has decided to "retire" the hydrogen fuel cell "because hydrogen fuel will never contribute to a sustainable world" ( http://www.energybulletin.net/18120.html)