Sunday, 13 April 2014

US Navy can make fuel from seawater (and electricity)

quote [ Navy researchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), Materials Science and Technology Division, demonstrate proof-of-concept of novel NRL technologies developed for the recovery of carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen (H2) from seawater and conversion to a liquid hydrocarbon fuel. ]

I'm headed out for Passover/vacation/family reunion, but this has started hitting my friends list with "we can run cars on water" free-energy bunk so I figured I'd get to the article first and head off the overreaction.

This is definitely interesting, but it's not going to change the world and usher in a New Age. What the engineers are doing is turning 100 units of electrical energy into 92 units of energy as fuel. That's quite good, and for the Navy it's even better because currently they need to transport all their oil out to their ships, which is expensive. With this process they can use energy from the nuclear reactors on-ship to make fuel for their planes.

I have no idea if this will spill over into everyday use. There's definite use for remote coastal areas (where fuel transport is a similar concern) and that's the place to start development while they work out the myriad kinks of upscaling it from "fueling a model plane" to "fueling a jet or generator". Also one of the main hurdles of energy production is energy storage, and something like this could help alleviate problems of "peak times of generation doesn't match up with peak times of use" for things like solar or wind power.

It's interesting stuff, but definitely in its infancy. They may find ways to make it interesting to your pocketbook down the line, but we're not toppling the oil-based economy and pouring water into our gas tanks anytime in the foreseeable future.
[SFW] [science & technology] [+7 Interesting]
[by Bruceski@6:11pmGMT]

Comments

aliron said @ 8:40pm GMT on 13th Apr [Score:2]
I never understood how electronics run on electricity. I have a basic understanding of what electricity is--but how is shit powered by it?
azazel said @ 9:12pm GMT on 13th Apr
Magic.
midden said @ 9:31pm GMT on 13th Apr
It's pretty simple. Electrons are the carrier of phlogiston. It's the same stuff that makes fire work, just on a much smaller scale.
MFDork said @ 9:34pm GMT on 13th Apr
This wil do a far better job of explaining than I could:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/electricity.htm

I know it's long, but it's also the summation of several thousand years of research and development -- if it was simple and easy to do, we'd have had toasters hundreds of years earlier.
cb361 said @ 10:37pm GMT on 13th Apr
Much like water. You know how water pushes a water-wheel round, well electronics are made of millions of tiny water-wheels, which the electrons push round as they go past.
steele said @ 11:14pm GMT on 13th Apr
holes.
seneschal said @ 1:08am GMT on 14th Apr
Magnets.
mechavolt said @ 1:09am GMT on 14th Apr
And I don't wanna talk to a scientist
Y'all motherfuckers lying, and getting me pissed
cb361 said @ 1:35am GMT on 14th Apr
Mercury.
satanspenis666 said @ 1:48am GMT on 14th Apr
It's like a series of tubes.
mechanical contrivance said @ 4:28am GMT on 14th Apr
Wires, usually.
biblebeltdrunk said @ 6:48pm GMT on 13th Apr [Score:1 Insightful]
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/snl-cnn-pregnancy-test-gives-you-way-too-much-information-with-no-actual-news/
snagUber said @ 6:59pm GMT on 13th Apr [Score:1 Original]
vid doesn't want to play. maybe because I'm located in the great kanuckistan ? I feel segregated.
AssBastard said @ 10:08pm GMT on 13th Apr
Oh, sorry.

(I've always wanted to do my Canadian impression to a real Canadian!)
Navier-Strokes said @ 4:21am GMT on 14th Apr
+1 Kanuckistan
Bruceski said @ 6:21pm GMT on 13th Apr
So in this case you can legitimately say that your dreams of unlimited free energy are being suppressed by a Jew.
Mel Gibson said @ 7:07pm GMT on 13th Apr
Way ahead of you there.
SnappyNipples said @ 8:16pm GMT on 13th Apr
Dumbledorito said @ 1:54am GMT on 14th Apr
I'd expect to see a lot more of this, as the military doesn't have any illusions about climate change (and the conflicts they expect to come of it) and the huge amount of energy they consume that comes from increasingly unstable sources.

They also look for strategic advantage, as in proposals for Army vehicles that will generate electricity via solar energy. Soldiers can recharge their gadgets and so forth as they do from gas-powered generators, but the solar collector/battery vehicle doesn't put out a nice, missile-friendly heat signature the way a diesel generator does.
seneschal said @ 4:20am GMT on 14th Apr
The applications are very practical. A nuclear submarine or aircraft carrier could be given the capability to refuel other vessels, including tanks, aircraft and other naval vessels.
Naruki said @ 4:21pm GMT on 14th Apr
You're Jewish? I always your name was just Russian for beer.
Bruceski said @ 10:38pm GMT on 14th Apr
Half Russian Jew, 3/8 English, and 1/8 "if granddad ever found out who his father was, he didn't tell us.". The username is unrelated, a nickname from high school. I complained about some person getting my name wrong, so a friend gave me a new one and it stuck.
arrowhen said @ 10:45pm GMT on 14th Apr
I thought he was a skier.
maryyugo said @ 6:22pm GMT on 14th Apr
I sure hope they don't set the oceans on fire.
Bruceski said @ 10:41pm GMT on 14th Apr
It's like ice-9; all the water in the world becomes flammable. Firefighters burn down half the cities before we catch on.

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