Interesting analysis of Brown's gas and other pseudoscience. Read them carefully until you understand what he is saying.
http://www.tinaja.com/glib/muse120.pdf
http://www.tinaja.com/glib/bashpseu.pdf
http://www.tinaja.com/glib/muse151.pdf
Some of my favorite excerpts:
The usual causes of pseudoscience fantasies include…
• labwork so mesmerizingly awful that it is not even
wrong. This one gets them nearly every time.
• no t having even the faintest clue as to what a true
scientific experiment, correct measurement, decent
documentation, and realistic interpretation is.
• A failure to think cyclically or to look at whole
systems. The "power stroke" from repelling magnets
is obvious, but the extra energy it took to get the
magnets there in the first place might not be.
• A lack of appreciation for engineering economics.
Economics that must take into account efficiencies,
alternatives, infrastructure, and total costs.
• Dragging along unreleated excess baggage. In the
way of paranoia, odd religions, conspiracies, obtuse
verbosity, suppression fears, or nonstandard terms.
• Giving vastly more credibility to a Keelynet file or
an anonymous newsgroup post than a mainstream
textbook or a properly peer reviewed article in a
respected scientific journal.
• The failure to thoroughly research what has gone
before and then to carefully build upon it.
• Extreme hubris that fails to recognize the lifetime
commitments that untold thousands of scientists
and engineers have made. Like it or not, at least
some of these people are rocket scientists. They are
a lot smarter than you are.
And, of course…
• Sleeping through all those Physics 101 lectures. Or
skipping the course entirely.
But please do NOT call Hydrogen a fuel. Hydrogen is only an energy
transport media. It is incapable of delivering net on-the-books BTU's
of energy. Just as with a flywheel or lead acid, you'll first have to fill
hydrogen with energy before you can empty it.
Naturally, no non-nuclear means is known to make terrestrial hydrogen
that does not consume considerably more energy than it delivers. Thus,
terrestrial hydrogen is a "pollution amplifier" that INCREASES the
pollution of the underlying fundamental energy source.
It is utterly ludicrous to claim that terrestrial hydrogen is in any way,
shape, or form "nonpolluting".
Note that commercial hydrogen is nearly always produced through the
reformation of methane. But the methane really has to want to reform.
Please also note that because of the staggering loss of exergy, use of
electrolysis for bulk hydrogen apps is a really, really dumb thing to do.
It is the equivalent of exchanging two US dollars for one Mexican peso.
Please also note that there is more hydrogen in a gallon of gasoline
than there is in a gallon of liquid hydrogen.
Even after all these years, hydrogen is still number one on the charts.
Here are the arguments against the hydrogen economy:
1. Terrestral hydrogen is ONLY an energy
carrier or transfer media and NOT a
substance capable of delivering net NEW
BTU's to the on-the-books economy.
2. Terrestral hydrogen creation is inefficient
as considerably more energy of usually
much higher quality has to be input than
is eventually returnable.
3. No large terrestral source of hydrogen gas
is known. Water, of course, is a hydrogen
sink and, by fundamental chemical energitics,
is the worst possible feedstock.
4. The CONTAINED energy density of terrestral
hydrogen by weight is a lot LESS than gasoline.
And drops dramatically as the tank is emptied.
The energy density of hydrogen gas by volume
is a ludicrous joke.
5. Virtually all bulk hydrogen is produced by methane
reformation. And thus is EXTREMELY hydrocarbon
dependent.
6. Hydrogen has the widest explosive range known,
the least spark energy required for ignition, and
has no known colorants or odorants. Its flame is
often invisible or nearly so.
7. There is more hydrogen in a gallon of gasoline
than there is in a gallon of liquid hydrogen.
8. No effective vehicle compatible means of hydrogen
storage is known that is remotely as cheap, safe,
dense, and convenient as carbon bonded hydrides.
9. No infrastructure exists for gaseous hydrogen
distribution. Pipelines in particular raise major
density and embrittlement issues.
10. Electrolysis from high value sources such as
grid, wind, or pv is totally useless as a hydrogen
source because of the staggering loss of exergy.
There ALWAYS will be more intelligent things
to do with the electricity.
11. Improper burning of hydrogen produces highly
polluting nitrous oxides.
12. Terrestrial hydrogen is basically a POLLUTION
AMPLIFIER that INCREASES the pollution of
its underlying sources. It is utterly ludicrous to
claim that hydrogen is in any manner, way,
shape, or form "nonpolluting".
13. Hydrogen rots most metals through embrittlement.
14. "Carbon Neutral" solutions would appear better
than "Carbon Free" because (A) A significant
measure of the energy of most fuels is in its carbon
fraction, (B) Carbon appears to be essential for
convenient and safe room temperature liquids,
and (C) Reformation is not required or else
is simpler, cheaper, and wastes less energy.
15. An optimal hydrogen storage solution exists by
carbon bonding as in heptane or iso-octane. Both
of these room temperature liquids ain't broke.