[pct-l] How We Learn Stuff

[jeffmoorehead1 at cox.net (Jeff Moorehead)]

Paul,
  How about using gravity driven water turbines to produce the electricity 
to electrolyze water into free hydrogen and oxygen. Store the hydrogen and 
release the oxygen to the atmosphere. Thus the energy required to elevate 
the water above the turbines (evaporation by el sol) is indeed stored in 
hydrogen. The oxygen released from electrolyzing water is then used to 
oxidize the hydrogen fuel in a car, forming water that is then driven by el 
sol to a point above the turbines. Building costs and impacts: stop sending 
so much electricity to Las Vegas from Hoover and Glen Canyon and feed it 
into the 'hydrogen grid'.


> If you're thinking about alternatives like hydrogen, that's a further
> complicated equation that needs to factor in the fact that hydrogen is a
> form of energy storage, not an energy source, and is subject to a lower
> energy output than energy investment.  What are the energy impacts of the
> production of the hydrogen?