Making H2 from ammonia (which is primarily made from petroleum) is not optimal.

100 1000 megawatt fission plants would allow us to produce all the H2, fresh water and electricity, we will need to charge our battery powered cars, power fuel cells and provide fresh water for drinking, agriculture, fracking and fresh water injection wells.

Fission, it is the 21st century after all.

Making H2 from ammonia (which is primarily made from petroleum) is not optimal.

And here, I always thought it was made from urine...
(which is ANY century...:-))

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Also it appears that some of the H2 is turned into water. I suppose that is where the necessary heat comes from. All in all this looks to be another case of feel good science.

Ok ammonia requires energy to make. But then so does fuel mining, cleaning, refining and it's distribution chain. Ammonia to hydrogen cuts out many of the energy hungry middle men in the carbon fuel cycle. And at least its a closed cycle even if it does come close to the energy budget of carbon fuels; which at the moment carries some measure of importance.
I doubt the industrial form of this process will rely on Ru. An expedited catalyst will likely be found to do the same job, even if it is less efficient.

Ammonia is a terrible fuel, it's flammable, but barely. It doesn't generate enough heat to support it's own combustion as a flame. Maybe with a very complex fuel cell you could get ammonia to supply energy via an oxidation reaction.

This article just highlights how difficult it is to store and transport H2 gas as a transportation fuel. H2 gas might make sense when used as an renewable energy storage medium for stationary power plants providing that solar and wind costs are so low that the conversion inefficiencies can be disregarded.

As I understand it, ammonia is a viable alternative automotive fuel. Just as a side note it will destroy brass.

Hydrogen, propane, all these alternatives COST more than traditional fossil fuels and have much lower energy density than hydrogen. The West is spending itself into mass bankruptcy. It's been estimated that we are living at least 40% beyond the capacity to generate new wealth. We need to be economizing and that means no high-priced fuels.

Hydrogen, propane, all these alternatives COST more than traditional fossil fuels and have much lower energy density than hydrogen. The West is spending itself into mass bankruptcy. It's been estimated that we are living at least 40% beyond the capacity to generate new wealth. We need to be economizing and that means no high-priced fuels.

Or you can stop borrowing money and spending it on military and bullshit walls to prop up a failing voter base. Deferring to growth economy at all costs philosophies is another failed experiment that has fed the banks and speculators but done nothing to actually improve overall quality of living. Stop making shit you don't need can cut out enormous quantities of the energy being consumed. Do you need another cheaply made piece of crap from China? Really? This game of money go round has kept the West sufficiently addicted for long enough and there's not many hands left to play.

".....and bullshit walls to prop up a failing voter base. "

Show me other countries that do not control their border. Border control is a major part of a governments duties. The progressive movement wants to eliminate all national governments and replace them with a one world government. Uncontrolled migration is just one part of that plan. I live in an area with a large population of immigrants and many work off the books, pay no taxes and get government benefits to boot. Also much of out law enforcement cost are directly related to them. Hospitals in our area were put out of business because they had no way to collect for services provided to them.

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Ok ammonia requires energy to make. But then so does fuel mining, cleaning, refining and it's distribution chain.

The difference is the energy return: fossil fuels positive, ammonia negative.

Stop making shit you don't need can cut out enormous quantities of the energy being consumed. Do you need another cheaply made piece of crap from China? Really?

It's not that simple. 80% of the workforce is now in "services" which has turned into an enterprise based on selling goods for consumption and coming up with new ways to induce more consumption of resources to turn a buck in the middle. The vast majority of the population now falls into the category of unnecessary middle-men, selling unproductive luxuries.

If the flow of cheap pointless trinkets from china stops, half the people go on the dole because all the necessary food, clothes, housing etc. can be produced by the other 20% of people thanks to extensive automation.

RRR you are 100% correct about our economic problems. The US national debt is doubling every 8 years and there looks to be no way to change this. At some point in time this will result in a huge inflation spike. Right now we finance this debt via artificially low interest rates and print money at will to fund new debt. Despite this debt real wages are still falling, this is a real problem.

That's the actual irony. If we were being completely rational and efficient about it, only one in five people would actually have to work while the rest can just sit and enjoy the spoils. The less they work, the better off everyone would be, because make-work is a waste of resources.

But the problem then becomes about the distribution of wealth, because almost everyone wants more than their equal share and nobody prefers to spend any effort to gain it. Hence, if the distribution of wealth is made a political question, as in the communist states, you get massive government corruption and nepotistic backstabbing, and eventually dictatorship.

Post-scarcity is already here - we're just wasting it.

The US national debt is doubling every 8 years and there looks to be no way to change this.

Technically, the growth of national debt is fine as long as it's internal debt - because of how fiat money works. The amount of debt always matches the amount of money in circulation because money exists due to the debt. As the government bonds mature, new bonds are issued to maintain the amount of debt and the amount of money.

As the economy grows, the debt must grow to create more money. Otherwise you get deflation which is a sign that people don't have enough money to exchange all the goods and services they're trying to, so money itself starts to become more valuable than the goods and services, which leads to money hoarding and a recession.

Though it's true that 8 years is too short for the doubling, when the economy is doubling every 35 years.

Eikka it is the demise of the middle class that is worrisome. Besides our national debt there is also the huge trade deficit of about 1/2 trillion per year. My only guess is that the money is going to military expenditures and domestic entitlements. It can't be going only to the "Rich" because you could take ALL of their money and it would not put a dent in the problem.

That's the actual irony. If we were being completely rational and efficient about it, only one in five people would actually have to work while the rest can just sit and enjoy the spoils. The less they work, the better off everyone would be, because make-work is a waste of resources....

This point has been made many times over the years by economists. Only a small percentage of the workforce actually creates wealth. The rest are just sheltered workshops that need artificial support to sustain a workforce. It's just you can't call it charity because it's political dynamite. In the past when I had to deal with inept or poisonous personalities in the workforce I realised that paying my taxes to keep them on the dole and out of our industry made more economic sense, because the loss of productivity from their behavior was greater.

Back to the ammonia article. Storage of ammonia gas is more hazardous than storing hydrogen.
Ammonia gas destroys lungs very quickly. Even small leaks would be deadly.

Let's focus on perfecting the electrolysis of water which is very abundant and the end product of the process is perfect for our atmosphere.

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Hydrogen is so 20th century, electrons are the 21st century power medium of choice.

Hydrogen is so 20th century, electrons are the 21st century power medium of choice.

Gmarster, How do you suggest we create and store the electrons for later use??? I'm pretty sure hydrogen fuel cells create a flow of electrons to be used by a variety of electric circuits.

Hydrogen is so 20th century, electrons are the 21st century power medium of choice.

Gmarster, How do you suggest we create and store the electrons for later use??? I'm pretty sure hydrogen fuel cells create a flow of electrons to be used by a variety of electric circuits.

FT,
I guess he missed that hydrogen IS an electron storage medium...