February 14th, 2004

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Science
4 Comments »

A Rare Investment Tip

You’re not going to get much investment advice on this site, but here’s some: buy shares in ethanol producers. From CNN:

Researchers say they have produced hydrogen from ethanol in a prototype reactor small enough and efficient enough to heat small homes and power cars. The development could help open the way for cleaner-burning technology at home and on the road.

That’s a big deal. One of the biggest barriers to employing greener, alternative energy sources is cost. If ethanol-to-hydrogen gets competitive with fossil fuels, it would be a real boost to the fuel cell economy. More importantly, it would make driving your car and heating your home a lot more environmentally-friendly.

Comments: 4 Responses so far

Martin
February 14th, 2004
11:26 pm

Picture this scenario though:

Fossil fuels are running out, and America uses its power (in whatever form) to ensure that enough ethanol source crops are grown to produce fuel so that Americans can keep driving their SUVs. This decreases the amount of land used to grow food, thus increasing the number of people starving to death.

OK, I know that at the moment, the world grows more food than it can eat, but the population is growing fast…

[Reply]

jenny
February 15th, 2004
3:51 am

Further support for your investment advice:
http://www.mytelus.com/news/article.do?articleID=1528252

[Reply]

Martin G
February 16th, 2004
12:37 pm

Errr… Why exactly would you want to produce hydrogen from ethanol ? To burn it? To power a car engine ? You can do both those already with the alcohol. There’s no need to convert it. 30% of Brazil’s cars now run on alcohol.
Plus, fuel cells which run on ethanol are already on the market, a couple of big Japanese companies will be launching small versions to power mobile phones etc this year.
It’s a ‘dog bites man’ tech-story of the type CNN specialises in . . .

[Reply]

Shana
February 21st, 2004
5:29 pm

You would be surprised how many Americans don’t drive SUV’s!

[Reply]

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