Home Hydrogen Kit?

[Patrick]

UK Firm ITM Power has developed a way of making hydrogen at home to fuel a car.

I'm pleased that investment in hydrogen is still ongoing. It seems as if the concept is being overtaken by biofuels. A few years ago a hydrogen propellied taxi was taken and shown around Europe looking for investors - then that was the last that I'd heard.

Sadly, it's when you read things like the following from that page: "However, some industry experts have said that electric power and not hydrogen could be more cost effective and energy efficient." That you know which side the"Industry"'s bread is buttered.

[swl]

How the hell does that piece of plastic work then?

Making hydrogen is easy. All you do is pass an arc through water. The problem has always been that the continual electricity required costs more than the value of the hydrogen you produce. But I saw something about a guy in Shetland who had rigged up a wind turbine to do the job. Perfect. More or less continual free electricity so he could be producing small amounts of hydrogen 24/7. He was compressing the hydrogen into cylinders and running his car off it.

If it wasn't for:

a) The cost of a wind turbine
b) The cost of the gubbins to get the hydrogen into a cylinder
c) The cost of converting the car, and
d) The fact I have a company car & don't pay a penny for fuel,

I would seriously look into this.

[Patrick]

What intrigues me is that so many years ago this was the answer! all the bods and scientists and motoring programmes were talking about it - then the US starts making heavy investment in bio-fuels and everyone jumps on that bandwagon. One would have thought that with b/f's effect on food prices would make mass hydrogen production more attractive? Or does someone have control of a patent somewhere and is holding everything up for their own gain?