Here's another new invention to add to the pile:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=hydrogen-po...
We [have] figured out a way just using a glass of water at room temperature, under atmospheric pressure," Nocera says. "This thing [a thin film of cobalt and phosphate on an electrode] just churns away making [oxygen] from water. According to John Turner, a research fellow at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., who was not involved in the research, the discovery could reduce the need for platinum in a conventional electrolyzer. He believes it could also play a role in a future large-scale hydrogen generator, which would collect the energy from sunlight in huge fields and then run that electric current through water to produce vast amounts of hydrogen to meet, for example, the demand from a future fleet of hydrogen-powered vehicles. "That's what his advance is pointing towards," he says, "finding an alternative catalyst that will allow us to do oxygen evolution (breaking the bonds of water or H2O and forming oxygen) in concert with hydrogen" on a grand scale"
These breakthroughs sound great, however most are at an early stage in the develoment cycle. Is a hydrogen economy plausable? Your thoughts?
BTW: Speaking of alt generation, I posted a news article on kite power. The numbers look impressive, and the environmental impact low:
