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Originally Posted by Dragoneye
There is no one solution - but E85 can be a transitional fuel, and a permanent solution in some places...
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For sure. And those permanent solutions are being researched. With hydrogen, it is expensive and not a source of energy, just a form of storage. It takes energy to get it into a gas, more than when you burn it or put it through a fuel cell. Electrolysis of water (the reverse of what happens in a fuel cell) is very ineffient and works only on a limmited scale. New methods are being developed that are expected to bring the cost down and the scale up. In fact a former professor of mine is working on that right now.
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For instance, the Faculty is currently cooperating with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) to develop a method using heat from nuclear reactors in a thermochemical cycle to decompose water into its basic components of oxygen and hydrogen. Hydrogen burns cleanly, but one of its production challenges is the creation of large quantities in a cost-efficient manner, Dr. Naterer says. He envisions thermochemical plants that sit close to nuclear facilities, using spent heat from the nuclear plant and steam to generate the new hydrogen fuel source
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http://engineering.uoit.ca/people/features/naterer.php