Free energy breakthrough? Holy grail of water splitting technology now achieved

[Amaterasu]

From: http://www.riseearth.com/2013/08/free-energy-breakthrough-holy-grail-of.html

A team of scientists at the University of Colorado, Boulder, have achieved what appears to be the "holy grail" of water splitting technology for the production and storage of clean, abundant energy. Because sunlight is free, I'm calling this "free energy."

To understand this breakthrough, it's important to first understand why solar power has so many limitations. Solar is great when the sun is shining, but storing solar power require the deployment of a large array of heavy, expensive and toxic electrical storage devices known as "deep cycle batteries." To put it in street terms, deep cycle battery technology sucks. The batteries suck, the chemicals suck, the weight sucks and the cost sucks. There is absolutely nothing to like about batteries unless you enjoy hulking around with heavy, useless objects.

So the "holy grail" of solar power has always been finding a way to store solar energy that's portable, dense and relatively lightweight. Until now, that discovery has been elusive.

More at link.

[Elvis Hendrix]

"Oh, and don't worry about running out of hydrogen. When you "burn" it, it reacts with oxygen in the air to form water, the byproduct of hydrogen combustion. Hydrogen isn't destroyed in the process, so you never run out. As long as the sun keeps shining, you'll always have abundant hydrogen energy here on Earth, as hydrogen is merely the "carrier" of the energy, not a consumable fuel itself like oil. "

I did not know that thanks.
It's a beautiful cycle when you think about it!

Water to Power then back to water.

[Amaterasu]

Most welcome.  Yes, hydrogen doesn't "burn away" but merely recombines with oxygen into water - to be split and "burned" again.

[Elvis Hendrix]

The eternal fuel as it were.

Excellent.

[zorgon]

The eternal fuel as it were.

"burning" Hydrogen and Oxygen is as old as Konstantin Tsilokowsky's invention of the Liquid Fuel rocket

His most important work, published in 1903, was The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices. Tsiolkovsky calculated, using the Tsiolkovsky equation,[9]:1 that the horizontal speed required for a minimal orbit around the Earth is 8,000 m/s (5 miles per second) and that this could be achieved by means of a multistage rocket fueled by liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen.

In 1903 he published an article "Investigation of Outer Space Rocket Devices," in which for the first time it was proved that a rocket could perform space flight. In this article and its subsequent sequels (1911 and 1914), he developed some ideas of missiles and the use of liquid rocket engines.

The result of the first publication was not what Tsiolkovsky expected. No foreign scientists appreciated his research, which today is a major scientific discipline; he was simply ahead of his time.

[zorgon]

Water to Power then back to water.

All the Power you need...


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HINT:  All that "SMOKE" is water vapor

[ArMaP]

HINT:  All that "SMOKE" is water vapor

Wasn't most of the smoke from the "Ammonium Perchlorate Composite Propellant"?