Personalized Energy Gets A 200X Boost
Wednesday, September 1, 2010 - 11:35
in Physics & Chemistry
Personalized energy systems, where instead of huge nuclear plants (or worse, even larger windmills or solar farms) powering air conditioning for homes or gas stations fueling cars, individuals can produce power themselves, edged a little closer as scientists reported discovery of a new nickel borate catalyst that could boost efficiency of fuel cells up to 20,000 percent. The system would consist of rooftop solar energy panels that produce electricity for heating, cooking, lighting, and to charge the batteries on the homeowners' electric cars during. Any surplus electricity would go to an 'electrolyzer, a device that breaks down ordinary water into its two components, hydrogen and oxygen. Both would be stored in tanks. read more