From: Spudboy100@aol.com
Date: Wed Jul 16 2003 - 00:07:31 MDT
http://famulus.msnbc.com/famuluscom/bizjournal07-14-010012.asp?bizj=ALQ
<<The technology, called Solarec, uses a system of mirrors to harness and
concentrate the power of the sun to crack water molecules, thereby releasing the
hydrogen. Unlike typical systems for deriving hydrogen, RECO's system at no
point relies on fossil fuels, thus eliminating one of the fundamental flaws of
the much-discussed fuel-cell industry -- the release into the atmosphere of
carbon dioxide, which some believe contributes to global warming. And its
efficiency begins to bring hydrogen production in line with other energy sources.
"This makes honest people out of the hydrogen folks," says Reed
Jensen, a former Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist who founded the
four-person company in 1988 in this suburb of Los Alamos.
RECO is three weeks away from a second working prototype that Jensen
says could lead to commercial sales as a complete energy production system,
which not only produces hydrogen for use in fuel cells, but taps off the excess
heat energy to run an electricity-producing steam turbine.
"[It] can be used as a complete power source," he says.
Hydrogen is the most prevalent element in the universe. Called the
"forever fuel" by some proponents of alternative energy, some scientists say it
stores energy more effectively than conventional batteries, and it burns twice
as efficiently in a fuel cell as gasoline in a regular internal combustion
engine. A fuel cell's only byproducts are oxygen and heat. International events
of the last couple of years have demonstrated the United States' shaky
relationship with the Middle East, the source of most of the world's oil. Moreover,
pollution concerns and the knowledge that fossil fuel production cannot be
sustained indefinitely, at current levels, have brought a new urgency to the
development of hydrogen as an alternative. Some predict a 10-fold increase in
hydrogen's use as a fuel over the next two decades...>>
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