Here, you'll find an article about what looks to me, the up and coming new energy source for the green people, and well, for all of us. It was on 60 minutes, you could probably youtube it if interested. But yeah, if I remember correctly, its a fuel cell. On one side, oxygen enters. On the other side, fuel enters. This, along with some other shit going on, creates an electrical charge. It needs a ridiculously less amount of fuel then standard fuel energy. So yeah, discuss.

Or governments could just pour money into accelerating the growth of solar technology to get efficiency into economically sustainable levels, at which point we have a power source that has nearly no maintenance cost, does nearly no damage to the environment and will last for billions of years.

solar cells don't have an infinite life-span - that means after, with modern solar cells, you can use them for 40 years (the modern ones, if properly maintained), upon which you have to make new solar cells - and the production of solar cells leaves a bunch of toxins as a side-product

EDIT: source for toxins; http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2008/...ly-side-o.html , the life span you can just google

although technological advance will probably increase the efficiency of the solar cells - to a much higher lifespan, but the amount of research required to create a solar cell which would not need replacing or have a life span of at least a century is quite high, although i would whole-heartily support such a decision.



On topic, the article just talks about fuel cells - a concept, which, by the way, is over 200 years old, not really modern, it's just that the fuel cells are starting to become feasible - which require mass amounts of hydrogen (it's usually hydrogen - although some other substances can also be used - notably alcohols) and oxygen to function properly. Oxygen is a common element on the earth - hydrogen, however, posses a problem. It's expensive to produce hydrogen - one can either use hydrogen from a side-product of a reaction (this happens quite often - it's just that the amount of hydrogen will probably not suffice for the world-wide need), or to do an electrolysis of water (separation of hydrogen from oxygen in water via electricity) - which means you'll get only as much energy as you put in out. This renders a fuel cell nothing more than a common battery - which, unlike most batteries which rely on acid/metal redox reactions, rely on more common elements (although I'm pretty sure that platinum is very often used as a catalyst in a hydrogen/oxygen fuel cell - however the platinum is reusable, so it's not a big problem). Hydrogen, however, is still rather expensive to make - which is the main problem with hydrogen/oxygen fuel cells.

The only difference is the bloom box uses some specific hydrocarbon - which I doubt is very cheap to synthesize in mass quantities.

EDIT: if you want a source, just look at any site which explains the function and structure of a fuel cell (short version: it's a renewable battery based on hydrogen and oxygen and a catalyst, usually metal coated with platinum - it does not PRODUCE energy via conventional thought - most of the time it simply stores energy - unless you can somehow isolate oxygen and hydrogen without a loss of energy and in mass ammounts) - even wikipedia says it in the first sentence "A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell." - an electrochemical cell is basically just another name for a battery

There are organic alternatives to solar cells and many alternatives to the types of cells with toxins in it.

At the moment they are more expensive than the current toxic cells. But just like other organic technologies, like OLEDS, we will eventually see them in consumer markets.. at cheaper prices.. due to no environmental impact.

Obviously since they are organic, they should eventually deteriorate. But I can't find anything on the wiki for it.

Oh, I just watched the 60 minutes for bloom box. I'm still a bit unsure about how it works. Hopeful, though.

Quoted for truth. My village wants to install solar panels on the rooth of the town hall. Also, we installed photovoltaics for our house.

Hm, apparently this one uses more oxygen and less hydrogen, with a ceramic core. That's pretty nice. I wonder how much it'll cost to produce once manufacturing starts.

I stand corrected - the hydrocarbon used is methane - easily one of the most common ones xd

I saw them on GMA here: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/bloo...energy-9929607

So it costs about $800,000 as of late to answer SmileyJones's question. Personally I can't wait to see when they make it on a mass-scale. If they can that is.