Thor’s Hall

This week there was an article in Science Daily that hearlds a breakthorough in storing energy prdocued by solar heat and radiation.

Until now, solar power has been a daytime-only energy source, because storing extra solar energy for later use is prohibitively expensive and grossly inefficient. With today’s announcement, MIT researchers have hit upon a simple, inexpensive, highly efficient process for storing solar energy.

Hey, sounds good.  Simple, inexpensive all good properties.  I can see all the residential fixtures going in now.

Requiring nothing but abundant, non-toxic natural materials, this discovery could unlock the most potent, carbon-free energy source of all: the sun.

Alrighty, sounding even better.  People are thinking about this in production terms not pure research.

Then things start getting a little iffy….

…developed an unprecedented process that will allow the sun’s energy to be used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. Later, the oxygen and hydrogen may be recombined inside a fuel cell, creating carbon-free electricity to power your house or your electric car, day or night.

Hmm, home based hydrogen production and storage.  Not sure I want that too close to the kids, maybe these guys are not thinking in the production mindset.

The key component in Nocera and Kanan’s new process is a new catalyst that produces oxygen gas from water; another catalyst produces valuable hydrogen gas.

To shorten the story, these guys use a three stage process that takes electricity from a source (photovoltaic), and runs the current through electrodes that are coated in catalysts to separate oxygen and hydrogen for storage to power a fuel cell.  It goes on to explain that the catalysts are cobalt and platinum.

Simple? Relatively.   Cheap? not so much.  Safe?  Well it’s still research so… not yet.

House #1 A 20 room mansion ( not including 8 bathrooms ) heated by natural gas. Add on a pool ( and a pool house) and a separate guest house, all heated by gas. In one month this residence consumes more energy than the average American household does in a year. The average bill for electricity and natural gas runs over $2400. per month. In natural gas alone, this property consumes more than 20 times the national average for an American home. This house is not situated in a Northern or Midwestern ‘snow belt’ area. It’s in the South.

House #2
Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university. This house incorporates every ‘green’ feature current home construction can provide. The house is 4,000 square feet ( 4 bedrooms ) and is nestled on a high prairie in the American southwest. A central closet in the house holds geothermal heat-pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground.

The water (usually 67 degrees F.) heats the house in the winter and cools it in the summer. The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas and it consumes one-quarter electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern. Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the house Surrounding flowers and shrubs native to the area enable the property to blend into the surrounding rural landscape.

And the kicker.

HOUSE #1 is outside of Nashville, Tennessee ; it is the abode of the ‘environmentalist’ Al Gore.

HOUSE #2 is on a ranch near Crawford, Texas; it is the residence of the President of the United States, George W. Bush.

You can verify it at: Snopes.

This is some classic Reagan. Just watching him deliver this and comparing his prescence compared to the politicians of today is a lesson.