I am a Toyota fan as well. There is a fuel cell/hybrid now that looks a lot like an Avalon/Lexus 350. 30 years ago the fuel cells were going to use a thing called a reformer IIRC to allow gasoline, ethanol, etc. to be the fuel which would go through this reformer membrane and separate the electrons etc. The failure to go ahead was becaus…
I am a Toyota fan as well. There is a fuel cell/hybrid now that looks a lot like an Avalon/Lexus 350. 30 years ago the fuel cells were going to use a thing called a reformer IIRC to allow gasoline, ethanol, etc. to be the fuel which would go through this reformer membrane and separate the electrons etc. The failure to go ahead was because this membrane could not be made reliable enough for long enough to be practical. The on vehicle storage issue with hydrogen was solved a while back but the other issues like generation, distribution and safety remain as hydrogen seems to be the only workable fuel. If those membranes worked and current fuels could be used instead of hydrogen I am pretty sure the fuel cell vehicles would be a big thing today.
Kinder Morgan sets up landfills to capture the methane and bottle it on site. I've seen landfills where they flare off the gas like in the Permian. There is so much natgas in the Permian they do not have enough pipeline capacity to send it all, hence it is flared. Diamondback is partnering with Verde Gas to make high grade gasoline from this excess natgas. Some are using it to generate electricity and converting from diesel engine powered sites to electric motor power. Still others are attempting to attract these electricity hog AI and data centers to site near the fields for the cheap electricity they can generate with the gas they had been flaring
Why, thanks again, John S., my local landfill/recycling center saves $10,000 per month on its power bill that way; they stuck a pipe in the bottom of the old landfill and run it to a generator shack. The owner, 4th generation, showed me when he was walking the yard.
I was on a back road in Midlands, TX; from where I was sitting, I counted 31 flareoff stacks. Each one was millions of pilot lights' worth of gas, all of it just going to waste. We really could be doing all of this so differently.
Diesel electric, todays standard for railroad, proves it.
My dad was a coal tender on the old trains, and yet there is still a place for them too, such as in Nepal and the Himalayas. The one-size-fits-all model of the Greens and the corporates is a bloody crime against nature.
Funny how almost no one is aware trains are electric and the huge diesel engines are the generators.
If anyone is interested in seeing the most amazing recycling/power generating operation I have seen, it is the Olmstead County operation in Rochester, Minnesota. They burn garbage at over 2,000 degrees and generate electricity and provide steam heat to a lot of government buildings. They extended the life of their landfill by 125 years which is significant in that area because it is mostly solid rock a short distance down which is unsuitable for a landfill. Unlike most places they can't just put them anywhere. If anyone is going to the Mayo Clinic and looking for something interesting to do while there, this is worth seeing.
I am a Toyota fan as well. There is a fuel cell/hybrid now that looks a lot like an Avalon/Lexus 350. 30 years ago the fuel cells were going to use a thing called a reformer IIRC to allow gasoline, ethanol, etc. to be the fuel which would go through this reformer membrane and separate the electrons etc. The failure to go ahead was because this membrane could not be made reliable enough for long enough to be practical. The on vehicle storage issue with hydrogen was solved a while back but the other issues like generation, distribution and safety remain as hydrogen seems to be the only workable fuel. If those membranes worked and current fuels could be used instead of hydrogen I am pretty sure the fuel cell vehicles would be a big thing today.
What about methane? It's used in fuel cells too, isn't it?
Then we could blow up the undersea clathrates and the tundra, lol
or invest in garbage dumps and manure piles /s
Kinder Morgan sets up landfills to capture the methane and bottle it on site. I've seen landfills where they flare off the gas like in the Permian. There is so much natgas in the Permian they do not have enough pipeline capacity to send it all, hence it is flared. Diamondback is partnering with Verde Gas to make high grade gasoline from this excess natgas. Some are using it to generate electricity and converting from diesel engine powered sites to electric motor power. Still others are attempting to attract these electricity hog AI and data centers to site near the fields for the cheap electricity they can generate with the gas they had been flaring
Why, thanks again, John S., my local landfill/recycling center saves $10,000 per month on its power bill that way; they stuck a pipe in the bottom of the old landfill and run it to a generator shack. The owner, 4th generation, showed me when he was walking the yard.
I was on a back road in Midlands, TX; from where I was sitting, I counted 31 flareoff stacks. Each one was millions of pilot lights' worth of gas, all of it just going to waste. We really could be doing all of this so differently.
Diesel electric, todays standard for railroad, proves it.
My dad was a coal tender on the old trains, and yet there is still a place for them too, such as in Nepal and the Himalayas. The one-size-fits-all model of the Greens and the corporates is a bloody crime against nature.
Funny how almost no one is aware trains are electric and the huge diesel engines are the generators.
If anyone is interested in seeing the most amazing recycling/power generating operation I have seen, it is the Olmstead County operation in Rochester, Minnesota. They burn garbage at over 2,000 degrees and generate electricity and provide steam heat to a lot of government buildings. They extended the life of their landfill by 125 years which is significant in that area because it is mostly solid rock a short distance down which is unsuitable for a landfill. Unlike most places they can't just put them anywhere. If anyone is going to the Mayo Clinic and looking for something interesting to do while there, this is worth seeing.