Ammonia + Light = Hydrogen

Dean Sigler Biofuels, Fuel Cells, Hydrogen Fuel, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Hydrogen continues on its course of always being five to ten years away as a cheap, viable storage mechanism for energy.  The ideal of driving a car that emits only water vapor (or flying an airplane that zooms about on a few pounds of H2) seems like an ever-distant dream. Tina Casey, writing for Gas2.com reports on Rice University solution using stinky ammonia that might clear the air for hydrogen, though.  She explains that the October 8th celebration of the fourth annual Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Day was great for natural gas stakeholders, since the gas is the primary source today for hydrogen.  Her headline indicates this could become a leading way to store and extract H2: “Forget the Hydrogen Economy, Here Comes the Ammonia Economy.” So Desirable.  So Hard to Get. Casey explains the big drawbacks to this market – fugitive greenhouse gas emissions and natural gas’s non-sustainable nature.  Another factor, the often high cost of producing H2, adds to …

Is It Hot in Here – Or Is It Just Dr. Santer?

Dean Sigler Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Dr. Benjamin Santer is a renowned climate scientist, leading the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) when it won the Nobel Peace Prize (along with former Vice President Al Gore) “”for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.”  The IPCC clarified the award by explaining, “The prize was awarded to the IPCC as an organization, and not to any individual associated with the IPCC.” Even though he fought through the idea that mankind was adding to the warming trend over the last 100 years*, and risked his career at several points along the way, overall, scientists worldwide have come to agree with his assessments, with well over 97 percent of climate scientists now accepting the anthropogenic causes of atmospheric warming. *New evidence from 25 researchers suggests human-caused warming started as early 1830 – at the beginning of the Industrial …