You's a HHO! Alternative Fuel and You!

Here's an interesting clip via Ben Poody:

So according to wikipedia, my definitive source on everything, what's happening here is water is being
electrolysed into oxyhydrogen gas--aka HHO-- which is 2:1 molar ratio of H₂ and O₂ gases. Now this technology has been known about for some time, around 150 years, but what the man in the video suggests is running a car on it. Now, praytell, from where will the energy to lyse the water come? As Moshe pointed out in an email, eliminate the middle man, and just hook the cars directly up to electric motors. Like on of these, for instance (buy me one now!). And I agree, the electric car is better.

Apparently, the water-run car, using this very same technology, is a hoax, of classic proportions, but touches on the delicate concept of alternative fuel sources. I read a book a while back called Beyond Oil and Gas: The Methanol Economy, by George Olah, a Nobel-Prize winning chemist, who invented the fear-inducing super-acid H4O+ (the one that burns, not that one that makes you like Pink Floyd and drinks out of cups). Olah's proposal is based on the fact that our natural gas reserves far exceed our crude oil reserves, and that the volatile, difficult-to-store natural gas can be converted to methanol, evidenced in the equation:

CH₄ + CO₂ --> CH₃OH

The astute observer will note that this reaction requires CO₂, thereby making the future burning of said fuel a carbon neutral process. Of course, energy is additionally requires in the conversion of CH₄ to methanol, and that energy Olah would provide through clean nuclear power, which America, for some silly reason, still shies away from. Regardless, irregardless!, Olah's methanol economy provides the added benefit of ease-of-transfer of natural gas, allowing cars to run on the volatile fuel by converting it to a handy, safe liquid. It's much more feasible and safe than high-pressure hydrogen tanks, because we all know what happened the last time we tried that. Methanol from natural gas is good because it is a carbon-neutral process and utilizes a fuel that is sufficiently energetic to be an octane-hexane substitute using our current automobile engines. However, this is only a crutch, which even Olah admits, as natural gas stores are finite resources, which only delays the inevitable Peak Oil Crisis, which already has some in an apocalyptic frenzy.

Obvi, nuclear is the way to go. How much is a kcal? It's roughly the energy required to raise 2 gallons of water by 1 degree celsius. The average energy content in 1 gram of coal is 7 kcal, 1 g of oil contains 10 kcal of energy. Gee whiz, that's alot. 1 g of uranium contains 150,000 kcal of energy. That's more than a little. In a once-through nuclear reactor, only 4.1% of the energetic material is waste-product, 94% is recyclable. Of course, if you are all worried about bombs and shit, which you should be, or perhaps worried about giving the Ruskies loads of baksheesh for their Siberian Uranium Stores, why not use a thorium reactor, which was one of the original test reactors, is proven to work, the fuel is nearly ubiquitous and evenly distributed throughout the world (including the good ol' US of A), and best of all! It cannot be used to make a thermonuclear device! YAY! Of note, the reason why uranium was switched to as the primary fuel for energy-produced reactors in the first place was so that some of that healthy energetic production could additionally be shunted into weapon-grade uranium production, which was actually done down the road from me at the Savannah River Site. Also, Iran needs a heads-up on that one, since we know, because we did it....

So why not eliminate the middle man, pour money into development of clean nuclear fission, which is 100% carbon neutral, is (like the author) incredibly energetic, and with only slight conceivable advances from our current technologic level, can provide energy for at least 1000 years (based on breeder reactors utilizing the 0.7% of U-235 occuring naturally 100 times over. This doesn't even take into account the use of Th-232).

I'm not nuclear physicist, but I am a certified genius, and using my preternatural gift, it is pretty evident that nuclear power, fueling everything from our cars to our homes to our airplanes, is the only way to go from here on out. 

Just solved the energy crisis, no biggie.