Fossil Energy from Petrol, Coal and Gas
Burning fossil energy carriers valuable chemical are destroyed and stores will run out in foreseeable time. The climate change due to increasing emission of CO2 by China, USA and India accelerate the depletion process.
CH3.........CH3 + 8O2 = CO2 + 4H2O + C (soot particles) + sulphur + SO2 + ash + Energy
The Global Solution
Solar Energy from the Sun Belt stored as Hydrogen
The Desert Energy Project uses solar energy from the Sun Belt to produce hydrogen as a source of clean energy with zero emission.
2H2 + O2 = 2 H2O + Energy no emission
Fuel Cells [1]
According to Bernard I. Robertson, senior vice president at DaimlerChrysler fuel cells are the most promising alternative drive system. DaimlerChrysler is examining various fuel options for fuel-cell vehicle such as Sodium borohydride, cooled liquid hydrogen to compressed hydrogen and systems that extract the hydrogen from gasoline or methanol onboard the vehicle. There isn't yet a clear winner in the race to determine the best energy source for fuel cells.
According to Robertson, hydrogen driven cars consists of an electric motor that draws its power from on-board fuel cells, in which hydrogen reacts under controlled conditions with atmospheric oxygen to produce electrical energy. In fuel cells a special membrane (proton exchange membrane, or PEM) impedes the oxyhydrogen gas reaction by ensuring that only protons (H+) and not elemental hydrogen molecules (H2) react with the oxygen.
The DaimlerChrysler prototype minivan accelerates from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour (62 mph) within 16 seconds, attains a top speed of 130 kilometers per hour (80 mph) and an operating range of almost 500 kilometers (300 miles)
[1]DaimlerChrysler: New York, June 11, 2002: Sodium Borohydride: Fuel Cell Vehicle 'Natrium' Uses Clean, Safe Technology to Provide Hydrogen on Demand
http://www.daimlerchrysler.com/dccom/0-5-7153-1-75938-1-0-0-0-0-0-8-7145-0-0-0-0-0-0-1.html
| Fuel Cells Fuel cells consist of a proton exchange membrane PEM, which impedes the oxyhydrogen gas reaction. Only Protons reactsa with oxygen. |  |
According to the IEA Photovoltaic Power Systems Program the payback of the energy consumed during the production of the modules will be realized within three to four years, considering the high levels of solar irradiation (such as found in deserts) and a high utilization factor the energy.
[1] IEA Photovoltaic Power Systems Program: Basics of PV: Environmental Considerations.
http://www.iea-pvps.org/pv/index.htm
Production of Hydrogen
Hydrogen is produced by hydrolysing water using solar energy from the photovoltaic power plant. A large number of cells are united. The first cell has an electrode of iron and is connected with the negative pole of the DC grid. The last cell has an electrode of nickel, and is connected with the negative pole of the grid. The cells between are separated one from another, by a bipolar electrode (One side is positive and the other negative charged). To avoid oxygen to get in contact with hydrogen a diaphragm is located between the two poles. Sodium hydroxide may be added to increase the conductivity of the water.
Advances in thin-film organic photovoltaic cells
24.07.2010: Graphene organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells [1]
OPV photo-electronic device must have a transparent conductive electrode through which light can couple with active materials to create electricity. DeArco and colleagues 2010 report the development of graphene, a highly conductive and highly transparent form of carbon made up of atoms-thick sheets of carbon atoms. The researchers produced ultra thin graphene/polymer sheets by first depositing carbon atoms in the form of graphene films on a nickel plate from methane gas. A protective layer of thermo plastic covers the graphene layer, and the nickel underneath is dissolved in an acid bath. The graphene layer is then combined with a polymer sheet, which can then be incorporated into a OPV cell.
The graphene-based cells have a low efficiency of 1.3% (for every 1000 Watt of sunlight 13Watts are produced), compared with 14 % of silicon cells, however, they have the advantage of low weight and can be used in cloth fabrics, such as curtains of cloth. Graphene-based OPV cells may thus replace Indium-Tin-Oxide (ITO) cells which are less flexible.
[1] Lewis Gomez De Arco, Yi Zhang, Cody W. Schlenker, Koungmin Ryu, Mark E. Thompson, Chongwu Zhou. Continuous, Highly Flexible, and Transparent Graphene Films by Chemical Vapor Deposition for Organic Photovoltaics. ACS Nano, 2010; 4 (5): 2865 DOI: 10.1021/nn901587x
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nn901587x