10 “Save the Planet” technologies

Now Global Warming is such a hot topic (pun intended), Live Science has a list of emerging ‘Save the planet’ technologies.

1. Make Oil from Just about Anything.
2. Desalination, removing the salt and minerals out of seawater.
3. Hydrogen fuel cells.
4. Solar power developments.
5. Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion.
6. Harness Waves and Tides.
7. Plant Your Roof. Roof gardens are a good thing.
8. Let Plants and Microbes Clean Up After Us.
9. Bury The Bad Stuff. Put CO2 in the ground.
10. Make Paper Obsolete. Re-usable electronic paper.

About the Hydrogen hoax (technology # 3) Robert Zubrin wrote a very interesting article in “The New Atlantis“. In this article Zubrin, who has proved before with his “Mars Direct”-plan to be a practical “no-nonsense” engineer, shows that in exchange for the production of H2, as much CO2 as with traditional fuel production but less energy is produced. The only other source of hydrogen is water, and this will need a catalyst that uses solar energy to cheaply split water; probably also too expensive. Then you’ll need a lightweight H2 storage system.

Nonetheless cars are produced yet (like the German BMW) with Hydrogen engines, able to drive 200 km’s on 183 litres of H2, not enough by the way to reach the next hydrogen fuel station.

More information about Energy is at the the Energy Information Agency site .