I wanted to build a small hydrogen generator and fuel cell for a presentation at school. The concept is pretty simple, solar panels uses the sun to convert water to h2 and o2 and recombine it to form water and electricity. I totally love hydrogen power but i cant get over this one problem. Besides it being easier to store the gas, whats the point of even using hydrogen to power a DC car and instead use the power for the sun or wind to create electricity. I see it as one extra step to do this. Burning the gas is the right way to go but i dont wanna get into trouble for lighting a flammable gas on campus and an engine is to difficult/big to reproduce. Am i missing something? Does hydrogen produce more power when recombined than wind/solar generators? Can anyone explain please?
Solar panels only work when the sun shines on them. Further they work on 12v systems. To get enough electricity to power a car, you might need about 260 sf of solar panels.
People could soon get cleaner energy from a compact fuel-cell generator in their backyards, at costs cheaper than power from the grid. At least, that’s the hope of Redox Power Systems, a startup based in Fulton, Maryland, which plans to offer a substantially cheaper fuel cell next year. Redox is developing fuel cells that feed on natural gas, propane, or diesel. The cells, which generate electricity through electrochemical reactions rather than combustion, could allow businesses to continue operating through power outages like those caused by massive storms such as Hurricane Sandy, but they promise to be far cleaner and quieter than diesel generators. They can also provide continuous power, not just emergency backup power, so utilities could use them as distributed power sources that ease congestion on the grid, preventing blackouts and lowering the overall cost of electricity.
