[ExI] "Cheap Hydrogen"--this might be promising

[Eugen Leitl]

On Thu, Jan 31, 2008 at 11:55:03PM -0600, Damien Broderick wrote:
> [what's stupidly wrong with it, Eugen? :)  ]

Assuming their claims of producing hydrogen cheaper than
methane reforming are true (unconditionally, that's not
true, since you'd need direct sunlight, and plenty of it)
that's a pretty low standard to compare against. Thin-film
elements a la http://nanosolar.de are claimed to have
an energy ROI of weeks, and 0.3$/W in production, sold
for 1$/W. Their current claims is electricity cheaper than
coal plant electricity. You can expect these prices to fall 
further, while cost of natural gas will only increase. On 
the long run, we should see nanowire rectenna-based PV arrays, 
which can be up to 80% efficient, while as cheap and durable
as thin-film spin-coated or printed panels.
 
> http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/20134/

Anything involving tracking parabolic mirrors to create
high temperatures in focus is always going to remain 
expensive. No movable elements and solid state is where it's
at.

-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
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