Tom’s letter to Bonnie

Friend Tom Yamaguchi has changed his opinion of nuclear power. His letter to Bonnie Raitt explains the details.

3 Responses to “Tom’s letter to Bonnie”

  1. Luke says:

    A good letter indeed, worth reading.

    I hope people like Bonnie Raitt take heed of it.

    Though, I should point out that few of our modern technologies are truly environmentally benign – the production of the semiconducting materials in our solar photovoltaic cells and LEDs are quite toxic materials, too.

    I believe that hydrogen will be important as an energy storage medium that can easily be produced from electricity – it has an energy density in excess of essentially any other chemical fuel, and certainly far in excess of electrochemical batteries or fuel cells.

    I do not believe that a tank of hydrogen driving your car is any more dangerous than the tanks of highly flammable gasoline, or propane, that our vehicles already use.

  2. Matt says:

    (sorry, small technical correction)
    Hydrogen has the highest energy density by mass, not volume. Volumetric energy density is the critical measurement when it comes to fuel – it determines how large and strong our containers need to be. The weight of a fuel is far less important than its volume. Liquid hydrogen has an energy density of 10.1 MJ/L, compared to gasoline’s 34.6. Compressed hydrogen is only 4.7 (at 700 bar). But you’re right – it does beat batteries.

  3. Charlie says:

    Anyone out there have info on how well BMW’s fleet of hydrogen powered cars is performing? This bridge technology allows the driver to change from burning hydrogen to gasoline by the flip of a switch. Supposedly the 45 lb tank of liquified hydrogen on board has a range of about 200 miles. If the driver can’t find a hydrogen filling station (not many of them around yet are there) he/she flips the switch to begining burning gasoline in the engine. A neat idea only those ingenious Germans would come up with.