[geeks] [rescue] Computerfests (was: first real server hardware) -OT

[R. Lonstein]

On Tue, Apr 27, 2004 at 02:11:01PM -0600, Dan Duncan wrote:
        [snip]
> Free hydrogen is the most plentiful element in the
> universe. The trouble is, it's pretty damned scarce here
> on earth. It's usually locked up in some compound like
> water and the best way to free it is by electrolysis. The
> problem with that is that you have to put in the same
> amount of energy to free it (plus overhead!) that you'll

Don't forget that just freeing the hydrogen isn't enough. You need to
transport it from the source to the point of use. The obvious existing
tech way is to create an infrastructure and pipeline it to a
distribution point and then move it in a tank to get close to the use,
which, aside from the costs of building the distribution
infrastructure from scratch, means compressing it. That compression is
a large additional energy input even if you assume the infrastructure
is free.

- Ross