Recent Comments:
Video: Antares DLR-H2 becomes planet's first fuel cell-powered aircraft {Engadget}
Jul 9th 2009 12:09PM Energy transported from a power plant to the point of use for either electrolysis or charging a battery is going the be the same so is not relevant.
Electrolysis to H2 to fuel cell to kinetic is only 20% to 25% efficient. Charging a LiIon battery to drive a motor is overall about 70% to 75% efficient.
With today's technology batteries are about 3 time as efficient as fuel cells.
H2 has a much higher energy density that LiIon batteries, but the volume required is quite large, even if you liquefy the H2 (which takes a fair amount of energy BTW), so there is a practical limit to how much you can take with you.
The only advantage H2 has over batteries as a storage medium is density, which makes a lot of difference in an aircraft, where safety and range are more important than efficiency, and weight is a critical factor. In an automobile however, IMO fuel cells make no sense when compared to even current battery technology.
Video: Antares DLR-H2 becomes planet's first fuel cell-powered aircraft {Engadget}
Jul 9th 2009 11:52AM "Making no judgment on the viability of fuel cells"
I will. Aircraft and spacecraft are the only areas where I think fuel cells make any kind of sense. Firstly, electrolysis of water is inefficient, only about half the electricity actually produces usable fuel, the other half is waste heat. Then you need to compress it, (more energy) ending up with only about 40% to 45% efficiency to generate the H2 from H2O, never mind that most H2 comes from natural gas... then the efficiency of fuel cell systems to drive motors is only about 50%. So the total efficiency from production to kinetic is somewhere around 22.5% (50% of 45%). This does not factor in the efficiency of producing and delivering the electricity used for electrolysis. For planes this makes sense because batteries are too heavy.
Contrast that with charging LiIon batteries, which is 90%+ efficient, then the efficiency of a battery driven motor is around 85%. Of your original energy investment you get about 75% efficiency (85% of 90%).
Colorware offers up $6,000 Stealth MacBook Pro: it's really dark {Engadget}
Jul 4th 2009 8:25PM "people would start to think that my Macbook is discontinued or knock-off MacBook Pro design."
Only a complete tool would make a purchasing decision based on what "people would start to think"
Colorware offers up $6,000 Stealth MacBook Pro: it's really dark {Engadget}
Jul 4th 2009 8:19PM except that he's dead, just like Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks... /somewhat obscure reference
Captain Piccard unveils Solar Impulse HB-SIA solar-powered plane {Engadget}
Jul 4th 2009 1:02PM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjNKyoRudOQ&NR=1
How would you change the Palm Pre? {Engadget}
Jul 4th 2009 1:52AM what trap has apple fallen into?
How would you change the Palm Pre? {Engadget}
Jul 4th 2009 1:48AM no, we understand is just fine. perhaps you've confused engadget with 4chan?
Sneak peek at Meizu M8's new user interface {Engadget}
Jul 3rd 2009 9:58PM "I think your pic could definitely come off as racist...to most people"
Right, because it always has to do with race and not policy, right? Are you one of those tools that thinks anyone that didn't vote for your guy is a racist?
Windows 7 release to manufacturing reportedly on track for July 13th {Engadget}
Jul 3rd 2009 9:55PM "Why would he care what a bunch of nobodies on the internet think of him? I'm sure you guys care what he thinks of you..."
I was thinking more of what the board, his senior staff, and the CEOs of other companies Microsoft deals with. I'm sure he doesn't give two shits about what we think - that's obvious from the last 3 versions of Internet Explorer...
I also noticed there aren't any chairs on the stage... Probably couldn't get chair insurance.
Poll: How's your Palm Pre holding up? {Engadget}
Jul 3rd 2009 5:54PM @BBR
We'll have none of your "facts" as it would destroy the fun of ignorantly bashing a company.
All LiIon battery powered devices get warm to hot with extended use. Period. As the guy above said, when you ship a million plus devices, statistically, a number of those will have bad batteries.
