For you to have phrased it like that indicates that you have smoked more than 2 rocks. Seriously, solar isn't the total answer to our eventual energy needs unless a way can be found to collect the energy from the sun in space, convert it to electricity and somehow beam it to earth. Too many places with too much rain and cloud cover and then it does get dark at night everywhere. We are a long way off in the technology but one day batteries the size of a regular car battery will power your car and only need recharging once every year or two or three. I still don't know why we don't power our vehicles with water. The process of converting water into hydrogen and oxygen is fairly simple.
Because it violates the first and second laws of thermodynamics. It takes more energy to split the molecule than the energy it can produce. Yes, but it requires expensive catalysts like platinum and iridium and produces two gases that are catastrophically explosive.
Not really. Only I have the secret formula for water. I keep it stored in the secure vault in Atlanta next to the secret formula for Coca-Cola.
Gasoline can be catastrophically explosive too be we have contained it to harness it's power when we need it. The internal combustion engine runs on a series of small explosions.
I will never forget my experience at the St. Louis airport not long after 9/11. They had some guy checking vehicles going into the parking garage. I had a tool box in the back of my pickup and he stops me and asks "Do you have anything dangerous in that toolbox"? I said, well, there are a few things, you know, a hammer, probably a crow bar, large ratchets and other stuff that I'm sure can be fairly dangerous if they needed to be. He didn't like that, he said "look smartass, I mean do you have like any explosives like gasoline and other stuff like that" I said, well, now that you mention it I actually do have about 15 gallons of gas strapped to the bottom. The look on his face was priceless. It took him a few seconds and I swear he was reaching for either his gun or his radio before he figured it out. He was not the least bit pleased with my antics.
No shit. So why aren't we running hydrogen internal combustion engines? Safety in handling and cost. Hydrogen is a lot more volatile than gasoline and when combined with the pure oxygen also produced by water electrolysis, it makes it even more volatile. It's harder to handle, being gaseous, requiring pressurized tanks. Car accidents that now produce fires could produce powerful explosions. Hydrogen fuel cells have been around for 200 years and they still aren't widely used. Too many problems. The main issue is that hydrogen is not just laying around, it does not occur naturally. It takes too much energy to produce hydrogen and it is self-defeating. A car that runs on water is a pipe dream and a con-man's delight.
It's got tons of energy we can use to our advantage and we are still stuck on oil. There are many different ways to tap into potential energy sources and kick oil, but no. And how is the battery comparison off. A battery is an energy source the sun is an energy source.
It's a source of energy. Combined with others it could replace oil. Nuclear, hydro, wind, geothermal.
