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Small Fuel Cells, 7th Edition: For Portable Applications
Manufacturer: Knowledge Press
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ASIN: 1594301190 |
Book Description
This 7th edition is a completely updated reference tool based on the Knowledge Foundation's Small Fuel Cellssm Conference series. This publication gives you the latest information available including complete narratives, charts, graphs. data, plus questions and answers that you will find in no other publication of its kind. World leaders in the production of small fuel cells share their findings as they race toward higher efficiency, higher power, and unique solutions to common problems.
This book is for fuel cell, electrochemistry and mechanical engineering industry leaders, decision makers, and leading scientists from academia working in the fields of system design, fabrication and testing of fuel cells of all types and sizes. A $30 billion market awaits organizations prepared to capitalize on the urgent need for long-running portable power, and these books are a critical addition for anyone wishing to do so. Conference proceedings are the fastest way to publish technical information, ensuring that readers are getting truly state-of-the-art.
Book Description
"Vital, very readable guidance for investors, environmentalists, and interested bystanders looking toward a future without fossil fuels." -BOOKLIST
"It's hard to argue with the relentless logic...." -E/THE ENVIRONMENTAL MAGAZINE
"Readers looking to separate facts from hype about cars running on hydrogen and large-scale fuel cell systems will find a useful primer here."-PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Lately it has become a matter of conventional wisdom that hydrogen will solve many of our energy and environmental problems. Nearly everyone -- environmentalists, mainstream media commentators, industry analysts, General Motors, and even President Bush -- seems to expect emission-free hydrogen fuel cells to ride to the rescue in a matter of years, or at most a decade or two.
Not so fast, says Joseph Romm. In The Hype about Hydrogen, he explains why hydrogen isn't the quick technological fix it's cracked up to be, and why cheering for fuel cells to sweep the market is not a viable strategy for combating climate change. Buildings and factories powered by fuel cells may indeed become common after 2010, Joseph Romm argues, but when it comes to transportation, the biggest source of greenhouse-gas emissions, hydrogen is unlikely to have a significant impact before 2050.
The Hype about Hydrogen offers a hype-free explanation of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies, takes a hard look at the practical difficulties of transitioning to a hydrogen economy, and reveals why, given increasingly strong evidence of the gravity of climate change, neither government policy nor business investment should be based on the belief that hydrogen cars will have meaningful commercial success in the near or medium term. Romm, who helped run the federal government's program on hydrogen and fuel cells during the Clinton administration, provides a provocative primer on the politics, business, and technology of hydrogen and climate protection.
Customer Reviews:
Well intentioned people should read this........2007-09-16
There are many well-intentioned people who advocate a quick switch to a hydrogen economy. This book is a must-read for them. While this book is pessimistic about the potential for a hydrogen solution to the energy issues we face, for me it is optimistic in that it allows us to get past a potential dead end and start thinking about other options that are more realistic at present. Before reading this book I thought of hybrids as a bait and switch to deflect attention from hydrogen cars. After reading this book, I realize that just the opposite is true. Hybrids are probably our best hope for now while hydrogen is a much hyped dream.
Realistic perspective on hydrogen economy & fuel cells.......2006-07-29
We are told that we are just 10 years away from a viable hydrogen economy by many optimistic politicians and CEOs. We keep being told that we are almost there with revolutionary competition for the internal combustion engine (ICE). Romm takes a serious look at the potential (and hopefully eventual) hydrogen economy as well as why we need to start working decades ahead of its arrival for it to actually work out.
First off, why are we wanting to get a hydrogen fuel cell car? Two main reasons -- energy independence and global warming, the second of which is the more serious problem (and I would say less than 10% of the US population will see this topic as being in any dispute within 5 years -- sadly we just don't have 5 years to sit around). I will focus on the global warming reasoning since very few people in the US seem to be serious about energy independence, even with $3/gallon gasoline.
I'll run over a couple of the arguments Romm gives; there are more in the book, and they are worth reading about.
-The infrastructure problems with a hydrogen economy are daunting. Hydrogen would probably be stored as a gas, not a liquid, meaning we would need to redo a lot of the current infrastructure. We may not have to start from square one, but it will be relatively close and it will be costly.
-If we figure out all the problems with hydrogen fuel cells for vehicles (ie, we get the costs significantly down and the infrastructure problems fixed), we still have a major problem with production. Why? Primarily the environmental reasons. We do not have a good source of hydrogen since we have to burn fossil fuels to get the energy for hydrogen or get the hydrogen from fossil fuels, and both options emit lots of CO2. Following the numbers (given in the book); the bottom line is we emit more CO2 than if we didn't make the switch at all. Even if we got all our hydrogen from renewables and we were using coal for other power uses, it would make significantly more (global warming and environmental) sense to direct the renewable energy to cover coal plants' electricity output and shut them down rather than stop gasoline from being used (fewer total emissions).
Romm goes over each possible solution at each step carefully, covering the economic, environmental, and political possibilities. This is what makes this book tedious and dry to some people -- it is so thorough. Romm covers every reasonable aspect with clarity and often too much detail (I just moved along on a few sections that were too drawn out). His reasoning and conlusions seem very sound. So what does Romm suggest we do in preparation of a potential hydrogen economy?
1. Shift towards higher energy efficiency and renewable energy, neither of which will hurt the economy and will actually save money in the long run.
2. The costs of the hydrogen infrastructure will be enormous, and thinking we will just change everything immediately when hydrogen cars are available (and priced about the same range as internal combusion cars) is just not going to work out economically, politically, or socially. We need to prepare to phase out gasoline and keep open the possibility of phasing in hydrogen, when it's ready.
3. Business as usual is going to greatly complicate the global warming problem, meaning we are going to be battling global warming as we try to develop the infrastructure for hydrogen -- both will be very expensive. Action needs to happen now with no further procrastination. Further, beginning changes now will make it easier to make future changes and make those future changes smaller.
I've outline the big picture that most people will find of interest in this book -- potential vehicle fuel cells. What I haven't mentioned is that Romm discusses fuel cells in general as well, not just for vehicles but for electricity as well, which actually does seem to have a chance to break out in the next decade.
After reading the book, I don't call Romm a pessimist; I call him a realist and someone I wish could help make policy decisions now. I would highly recommend reading this book to anyone interested in what is going on with hydrogen fuel cells or fuel cells in general; it takes a balanced view of the reality and necessity of fuel cells. The book also outlines where our world is headed over the next several decades with global warming.
For those interested, this book has loads of endnotes with the sources of Romms information, so you can find the original sources if you like.
Mixed feelings.......2006-03-18
The book was very informative though a bit dry for my taste but then again I'm not a scientist. I just wanted to know whether the hydrogen is the way to go in the nearest future, like tomorrow. Mr. Romm doesn't believe it is. I would agree with him but then again I'm not very well versed in the subject. But I'm going to be.
The Hype about Hydrogen........2006-03-15
Writing style a bit stodgy, but a lot of good fact based information on the subject of the much hyped Hyrogen economy which I have not seen set out so clearly or comprehensively anywhere else.
A sobering look at hydrogen's viability as a fuel.......2006-03-02
This was an excellent book that seems to be written by someone who would have liked for hydrogen to be the fuel of the future but who realizes that it may not be the most practical solution.
He mentions the high cost per KW for fuel cells, the difficulty with transporting and storing hydrogen and other barriers that may prevent hydrogen from being widely adopted as a transportation fuel.
He gives some background on Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM), Molten Carbonate and solid oxide fuel cells and provides cost and performance information for them.
He examines other technologies such as hybrids, e-hybrids (plug-ins), natural gas and traditional fossil fuel engines and right now it seems that hybrids and e-hybrids may be better options for reducing greenhouse gases.
The book is very well written and well researched and is worth reading for anyone who wants to know what would be involved in establishing a hydrogen economy.
Book Description
The book advocates hydrogen fuel as the best long-term alternative to fossil fuels and as a way to stop polluting the air and subsidizing terrorists. Shows how to generate hydrogen by electrolysis, how to convert an internal combustion engine to hydrogen, and how hydrogen can be used in home appliances.
Customer Reviews:
fuel from water ; w. peavey.......2007-07-15
Excellent reference source for detailed factual record of progress in the utilization of hydrogen fuel. Collates a wide range of industrial and academic research that has not had high u.s. media visibility.
Especially useful index for further individual research.
Give this guy a break.......2006-11-15
I too am surprised to see so much negative feedback on this book.
On the positive side it is filled with hard to find information on making hydrogen and using it. It would have taken me dozens of weeks to find this information on the web - if I even knew where to look. So at less than $20 this is a real bargain. It reminded me of many forgotten methods of creating hydrogen. This book has real value.
On the negative side...Mr. Peavey what were you thinking? You need to hire a good technical editor to remove all the typos. You also need to hire a graphic designer to make this book look good. The information is great for tinkerers and R&D people like myself, but when you package it in such an amateur way it gives the impression that the content also lacks value. If you fix the errors, redesign the book and put it in a hardcover (that cheap laminated cover curls like crazy) you could charge 3 times the price.
Just my 2 cents worth.
H 2 brute'?.......2005-01-13
This more like a high school paper gone wrong than a serious book for adults. Typical of the nonsense circulating around lately regarding Hydrogen as an alternate fuel. Poor science, terrible reading...... Does not factually deal with the real issues such as cost of distribution, storage and gasification. An insult to any reader with a brain.
what the Hydrogen Revolution is about .......2004-11-16
This book has been in publication since 1985? That is quite impressive that he started thinking about this stuff way back then. I can't believe all the negative feedback and this book is in it's 11th edition. If there are so many errors and everyone has the time to write about it here don't you think you could send the author a little note? Like "Hey Mikey, photovoltaic cells are made of silicon and implants are made of Silicone." The book is good as a rough start, I'll admit it has been very helpful to me - a professional engineer. Yes the facts and calculations need to be checked but what facts and calculations don't need to be checked? The web sites out there dealing with this stuff are either so simple that a 5 year old could understand or so in-depth that only someone very familiar with the technology could understand the tradeoffs. This book does a great job at bridging those gaps. With that said, good Job Mikey and to everyone else - if you don't like something fix it, or shut up that's what the Hydrogen Revolution is about people fixing something they don't like.
Poorly written college paper in form of cheap book.......2003-10-07
This is an old college technical paper, put together to look like a book.
It is very poorly written, but probably technically correct.
The book jumps around with no particular sequence or direction.
If you are not an electrochemical engineer in training who likes really bad diagrams ( bordering on hand written ) and REALLY TERRIBLE photographs ( which look like somebody's 3rd pass Xerox copies of twenty five year old black and white photos ) you will not like this book.
It may be of assistance to a engineering student, who may need some of the obscure tables and reeeeally bad graphs.
It looks like this guy printed this on a Commodore 64, in his basement,,,, him self,,,,, twenty years ago!!!!!!!
The technical knowledge is there, but the book is a REEEEEALLY out of date, poor quality, and a piece of CRAP.
But it's a great buy if you are looking for the spark gap setting for a 1977 Cadillac running a hydrogen conversion kit on a gasoline engine!
Book Description
This comprehensive set of two CD-ROMs provides a thorough collection of documents covering research into using hydrogen as a fuel and developing automobiles powered by hydrogen fuel cells. There is extensive material from the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, and NASA.
Hydrogen and fuel cells have the potential to solve several major challenges facing America today: dependence on petroleum imports, poor air quality, and greenhouse gas emissions. The Hydrogen, Fuel Cells & Infrastructure Technologies Program at the U.S. Department of Energy is working with partners to accelerate the development and successful market introduction of these technologies. Hydrogen is a clean and sustainable form of energy that can be used in mobile and stationary applications. Fuel cells harness the chemical energy of hydrogen to generate electricity without combustion or pollution. Codes and standards ensure the safe use of hydrogen and fuel cells. The vision of a new energy economy based on clean, renewable hydrogen is described in the National Hydrogen Energy Vision document. The National Hydrogen Energy Roadmap and Fuel Cell Report to Congress outline the challenges we face and suggest a path forward to achieve the promise of hydrogen and fuel cells. The first steps toward the hydrogen future are already underway. The 2002 Annual Progress Report provides a complete list of DOE-funded hydrogen and fuel cell projects for 2002. In November 2002, the world's first energy station featuring hydrogen and electricity co-production opened in Las Vegas, Nevada.
During the 2003 State of the Union message, President George W. Bush announced a $1.2 billion FreedomCAR and Fuel Initiative to reverse America's growing dependence on foreign oil by developing the technology needed for commercially viable hydrogen-powered fuel cells - a way to power cars, trucks, homes and businesses that produces no pollution and no greenhouse gases. Building on the FreedomCAR (Cooperative Automotive Research) Initiative, which was launched in January 2002, President Bush is proposing a total of $1.7 billion over the next five years to develop hydrogen-powered fuel cells, hydrogen infrastructure and advanced automotive technologies. America's astronauts have used fuel cells to generate electricity since the 1960s, but more work is needed to make them cost-effective for use in cars, trucks, homes or businesses. Using current technologies, it is too expensive to produce, store, transport and distribute hydrogen fuel, or to build fuel cell engines. Additional research and development is needed to spur rapid commercialization of these technologies so they can provide clean, domestically produced energy for transportation and other uses.
In all, the disc set has over 21,000 pages reproduced using Adobe Acrobat PDF software - allowing direct viewing on Windows and Apple Macintosh systems. Reader software is included on the CD. There is no other reference that is as fast, convenient, comprehensive, and portable.
Our CD-ROMs are privately-compiled collections of official public domain U.S. government files and documents - they are not produced by the federal government. They are designed to provide a convenient user-friendly reference work, utilizing the benefits of the Acrobat format to uniformly present thousands of pages that can be rapidly reviewed or printed without untold hours of tedious searching and downloading. Vast archives of important public domain government information that might otherwise remain inaccessible are available for instant review no matter where you are. This book-on-a-disc set makes a great reference work and educational tool for anyone interested in energy production, automotive technology, or our economy.
Book Description
The road to global security," writes Jeremy Rifkin, "lies in lessening our dependence on Middle East oil and making sure that all people on Earth have access to the energy they need to sustain life. Weaning the world off oil and turning it toward hydrogen is a promissory note for a safer world." Rifkin's international bestseller The Hydrogen Economy presents the clearest, most comprehensive case for moving ourselves away from the destructive and waning years of the oil era toward a new kind of energy regime. Hydrogen-one of the most abundant substances in the universe-holds the key, Rifkin argues, to a cleaner, safer, and more sustainable world.
Customer Reviews:
A must read-why we must move to a hydrogen economy.......2007-06-18
This book details exactly why we must move away from our dependence on fossil fuels, from the geopolitical struggles to the environmental issues, and sets forth the absolute benefits for hydrogen based energy-it is 100% renewable, and the technology to harness it would equalize all members of the human race.
Does it give technical details as to how hydrogen energy could be harnessed? No. Those are details best left to the research scientists and the engineers. But it gives the general public all the reasons why we should be demanding our scientists and engineers develop this technology and then make it available to the general public.
Read this book because you want to equalize society. Read this book because you want to equalize the human race.
A rather rushed leap to hydrogen determinism.......2007-03-25
Jeremy Rifkin is known for being a radical visionary and much was expected of him when he embraced hydrogen as our energy panacea. However, this book recycles a lot of old ideas and basically presents more historical material on peak oil than it does on hydrogen. Rifkin also succumbs to fearmongering tactics in the post-9/11 world by having a full chpater on "The Islamist Wild Card." He could have just as well considered the "Venezuelan" wild card. This book fails to deliver any plausible scenarios on how a hydrogen economy is viable when fuel cells require tremendous material usage. As Rifkin admits himself, fuel cells are not a new invention and predate the internal combustion engine. However, they have not been economically viable because hydrogen production is still the big problem. If we use methane to produce hydrogen we are stuck with the nonrenewability issue and if we use electrolysis, the only sensible way would be to use renewables such as wind, solar, geothermal and small-hydro to carry out the electrolysis. How such a transition will be made is missed in the analysis. The most promising feature of fuel cells is that they can be used to feed back into the grid if the infrastructure exists. Only one chapter is devoted to brushing through these intractable issues. Amory Lovins is far more astute in his writings on this matter.
Unfortunantly this is a view I share.......2006-08-02
World oil is declining and this book explains all the facts related to the coming end of the oil age. If you don't believe its true you will after reading this book and the book "the Coming economic collapse". Not sure hydrogen is viable the way this author states but if we can develop "just in time" hydrogen generation we may have a chance. I wish someone could explain how Stanley Mayer was generating hydrogen by fracturing water as he described but unfortunately he was killed.
"A snare and a delusion...".......2006-01-04
...as noted in other reviews here, hydrogen is simply an energy carrier (not a source) -- like a battery.
Here is an interesting quote:
" ...hydrogen offers little to no potential to produce oil security and reduce climate change risk in the next 20 years. (Changing the infrastructure for using hydrogen fuel cells for transportation) ...is a many decades undertaking.
Hydrogen fuel cells for transportation, are in my judgment, a snare and a delusion..."
-- James Woolsey, former CIA Director.
Simply Awful - How Does this Guy Get to Keep Writing Books? .......2005-12-08
I put this book down probably quicker than any other book I can think of in recent memory. It's simply awful.
I can't agree with even the paltry 2 or 3 star reviews who say that the first half of the book was good, but that it misses the point (as well as basic physics, thermodynamics, economics, . . . etc.)
Even the first half of this book is awful. The first chapter was the first sign that you're in trouble. It basically just lists a bunch of "stuff" that's going on: Globalization, Protesters in the streets against it, Telecommunications, Biotech, and . . . err . . . oh yeah, let's not forget 9/11 . . . and . . . Barbara Streisand isn't as good as she used to be, blah, blah, blah. I guess this is supposed to count for serious analysis because after just listing a bunch of trends he decries how there's been no serious analysis about Globalization. (Does this guy live under a rock!?!? Maybe an ivy covered one at Wharton where he apparently teaches . . . note to self: Don't get accepted to Wharton.) The rest of the first chapter describes the oil industry in terms starker than Orwell described Big Brother. But don't despair! The Hydrogen Energy Web will save us all! It will be like what the internet was for communications but for like energy or something like that, and it will destroy the evil oil companies, and it'll make everyone rich, we'll all be able to move back to countryside (I'm serious, he's basically claiming that), it will lay golden eggs, make your first born smarter and prettier, make your hair grow back, etc. Where will get the hydrogen? Oh it comes from stars or something, it's the most abundant element in the universe! OK, who will set up this web? (I'm not kidding here, again) Well, big corporations stole the internet before VOLUNTEER GROUPS could set it up, so we'll have VOLUNTEER GROUPS create the hydrogen energy web this time around. Oh, err, big companies will still be needed to, like, make all the hardware, and all the software (he actually concedes this point in a dismissive sentence), will be needed to send people out to fix any problems, to coordinate it, to, well, actually build it, but somehow it will be made by volunteer groups anyway and big companies won't really be a part of it. Even though they will be. But they won't. LOOK OVER THERE! A giant ball of oil company induced global warming is heading straight for us!!!
The second chapter is even better. He complains about how many classifications of oil reserves there are. With completely non-sensical names like "identified reserves", "non-identified reserves", and whatnot (boo-hoo, boo-hoo, there's just soooo many of them) he concludes that they can only have been created to confuse people so that the big oil executives and politicians can manipulate, confuse, and deceive the stupid masses into believing something or another about oil. (I was never quite certain what that was supposed to be. Oh well.) But not Mr. Rifkin! He's beaten them. He's defined "conventional oil" all himself, which excludes all oil that has been found but is currently uneconomical to extract and sell, all oil in polar regions, and all oil underneath the oceans. He does this to prove that we're running out of oil, and that the big oil companies are cooking the books. Tonight I'm going eat "conventional food" which will exclude all food in two thirds of the Kitchen, and all food in, say, the Living Room, to prove to my family that we're all going to starve to death. Don't tell me I'm wrong son! You're cooking the books!! Don't you see we're all going to DIE!
This book is not only awful, it's duplicitous. One of the few mentions of nuclear power is to say in two sentences basically: Utilities put a lot money into nuclear in the '60's and '70's. In the '80's the utilities made the consumer bear the brunt of a lot cost overruns and power plant shutdowns. The idea is to imply that nuclear power was a giant failure with a bunch of cost overruns and power plants that couldn't keep running. Both sentences might be technically true (because there's no mention of nuclear power in the second), but they're crafted to make you imply a conclusion without any specific evidence or argument.
Let's be clear: This book is a political diatribe. Big oil bad, Hydrogen good because it will do all these wonderful things. How will it do all these wonderful things? Some unconvincing arguments, red herrings, and incomplete and inconclusive examples and complete hypotheticals.
One of the biggest flaws is how it handles (or, more accurately, fails to) where hydrogen will come from, since it is not a primary energy source the way oil, coal, or nuclear is. It will take more energy to extract hydrogen from either natural gas or water than we will ever be able to get from the extracted hydrogen, thanks to the second law of thermodynamics. This is the critical question of what will replace oil, period, and only four pages are dedicated to it. The author's answer is solar. His argument for solar? Well, basically, solars's getting cheaper. That's not a complete argument! Is it FEASIBLE to power the world off solar? To power the United States off solar today would require a solar array the size of a small state! And you'd have to make another state size solar array to handle the growth in energy demand. God forbid the sun not shine one day. (Or maybe we'll have to invade the Middle East still because they have like 364 sunny days a year over there, leaving us at the mercy of the islamist anyway. Norway will probably invade Southern California too.) Solar by itself is getting cheaper, great, what about it's cost RELATIVE to other sources? There's zero discussion about using coal, or nuclear to power electrolysis of hydrogen.
This book is mostly a political posture. He puts forward a fantasy political vision, and tries to scare you into thinking it's the only thing that will save us from impending doom with some false techno-babble in lieu of any actual coherent plan or argument.
There are only two possible ways this book could help solve energy problems. One, you could burn it instead of heating oil this winter. Or two, if some magical invention could tap into all the hot air this author blows out his pipe we could use it to turn a turbine. Probably forever. I'm hoping for this latter option, but planning on the first.
Average customer rating:
- Interesting and entertaining
- An informed and in-depth study of hydrogen that can be easily grasped by the non-scientist with an interest in this subject
- Hydrogen: Hot Stuff Cool Science, is a hot book about cool stuff to learn
- If you still have your spirit of adventure
- Very Enjoyable Read and Super Resource
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Hydrogen: Hot Stuff Cool Science--Journey to a World of Hydrogen Energy and Fuel Cells at the Wasserstoff Farm
Rex A. Ewing
Manufacturer: Pixyjack Press
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ASIN: 0965809862 |
Book Description
Ever wonder what hydrogen energy is all about? Where the hydrogen will come from and how we will use it? Open this book and embark on a learning safari to the Wasserstoff Farm where you'll discover the solid science and cutting-edge technologies behind the H2 media hype, and have more fun than you're supposed to.
Three books in one:
1. Review basic chemical principles of how fuel can be transformed into useful energy.
2. Explore the many sources of hydrogen and ingenious methods devised to extract it.
3. Discover how we will use hydrogen—in our homes and buildings, vehicles and public transportation, for electricity in remote areas, and much more.
Science is explained, ideas illuminated and myths dispelled in this highly readable book about what many experts are calling the most important new energy for planet Earth.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting and entertaining.......2007-06-06
This book was received in good shape and fairly quickly, too. Thanks, we needed it fast!
The book was very informative and written in an interesting way.
An informed and in-depth study of hydrogen that can be easily grasped by the non-scientist with an interest in this subject.......2006-04-10
Very written and directly accessible to the non-specialist general reader, Hydrogen: Hot Stuff, Cool Science by Rex A. Ewing offers an informed and in-depth study of hydrogen that can be easily grasped by the non-scientist with an interest in this subject. Hydrogen introduces the reader to the every aspect of the manifold uses of hydrogen, what the chemical really is, where hydrogen comes from, and how it works as a fuel. Ewing presents a remarkable reference for anybody without much scientific background with a true interest in hydrogen and all of the extensive and innovative uses for it. Also very highly recommended reading from Pixy Jack Press is Rex Ewing's "Got Sun? Go Solar: Get Free Renewable Energy To Power Your Grid-Tied Home (0965809870, $18.95) which he co-authored with Doug Pratt.
Hydrogen: Hot Stuff Cool Science, is a hot book about cool stuff to learn.......2005-12-17
I highly recommend this book to those who wants to know more about the potential of hydrogen as a replacement for fossil fuels. You will discover hydrogen is an inexpensive solution which is environmentally clean and the technology exists today. The author weaves the technical information into a fictional tale which makes reading and learning a pleasure. The book is perfect for young readers as the author Rex Ewing keeps the readers attention with his interesting characters, Zedediah Pickett, author Rex and his horse Mike. An interesting tale interlaced with scientific facts. A bit light for the reader who has a good knowledge of hydrogen, fuel cells, etc. it's still a good refresher covering the basics and fun read. You'll get a glimpse of what the future holds if we have the courage to make it happen and the result if we take no action. It does a great job of making the reader pause to think about the issues. It makes the point that we are running out of fossil fuels, they contribute to greenhouse gases, and other pollutants. It touches on the main points: how hydrogen can be generated, stored/transported safely and converted into useful energy for electricity, fuel for cars, heating homes and many other applications. If there was one complaint the book only mentions fusion technology in passing. Perhaps this will be discussed in a sequel? Regardless it is an excellent and quick read; I've purchased this as a gift for several family members and friends. I wish everyone could get a copy as this is an issue we all need to be aware of and pressing our politicians and legislators for the emergence of the hydrogen age. I tip my hat to Rex A. Ewing on a job well done, buy this book!
If you still have your spirit of adventure.......2004-12-13
Do you know someone who thinks that science and engineering are boring subjects? Or someone who believes we can afford to ignore global warming and the upcoming end of the age of oil? Invite them to read this charming book by Rex Ewing. The author takes his readers to the imaginary Wasserstoff Farm to meet a wizard named Zed who is a master of subjects that too many people choose to ignore. We learn how fuels are transformed into energy, the various ways of producing hydrogen gas, and how this element may someday replace fossil fuels in providing the energy we depend upon.
High school teachers will find this playful book a useful supplement to the conventional chemistry textbook. It will appeal to readers of any age who have not lost their imagination or spirit of adventure. I also recommend it to the journalists, economists and political leaders of our age in hopes that they will get the science correct when they speak of the most serious technical problem of our time.
Very Enjoyable Read and Super Resource.......2004-12-08
HYDROGEN - Hot Stuff, Cool Science is a clever, innovative meld of "Harry Potter makes Contact with the Hydrogen Wizard and together they travel Back to the Future." At least, those are the images I saw while reading. Science teachers will love "technistoff," the technical notes and references following each chapter. Armed with these, teachers can enrich their own knowledge and understanding of some incredible new technologies of hydrogen generation, storage, and delivery, as well as visiting some very instructive web sites with their students.
A Colorado science educator for the past 39 years, I have been continuously dismayed about how little society understands about our current and worsening global energy predicament. Now, more than ever, humanity needs to "invest" immediately in Wasserstoff Farm's renewable energy programs. HYDROGEN - Hot Stuff, Cool Science is at once a very enjoyable read and super resource for teachers, as well as for the lay public, who are looking for ways to sort out the basics of hydrogen science.
Amazon.com
The word hydrogen conjures images of devastating bombs and burning zeppelins (the Hindenburg) for most of us, but it inspires visionaries like Peter Hoffmann to picture clear skies and safer roads. Hoffmann's book Tomorrow's Energy traces the history of the volatile gas and explores options for its use as fuel. Though the author can't avoid using some technical language, his writing should still appeal well beyond the community of automotive and power-plant engineers. His coverage, though fairly balanced, tends toward the positive efforts made by government, corporations, environmentalists, and scientists to promote hydrogen as a clean, relatively safe, and potentially cheap alternative to carbon-heavy fuels.
Party-line Greens may gasp at some of the suggested schemes, which include using limited nuclear power to generate hydrogen from water. But Hoffmann convincingly assures the reader that ultimately, the planet will be better off this way. Many will be surprised at how far hydrogen has advanced since serious research restarted during the 1970s fuel crisis: the range of cars, planes, and power networks using the gas for power storage is impressive and underreported.
Though he makes his case for hydrogen as a means of powering our lives, Hoffmann also shows off its uses in medicine, agriculture, metallurgy, and other fields. Using economic data, he shows that we can expect to live in a hydrogen economy sometime midcentury; if so, we can all breathe a collective, CO2-laden sigh of relief. --Rob Lightner
Book Description
"President Bush’s remarks in his State-of-the-Union message proposing a big jump in funding for hydrogen and fuel cell research and development are terrific news. It’s imperative that Congress follows through now and makes available those funds.
Aside from the tangible benefits of spending more on an environmentally benign area of energy that for too long has been treated - often condescendingly - like a poor orphan, the political message is of supreme significance. For decades, supporters of hydrogen and other alternative energy fields have argued until they were blue in the face, that the key ingredient missing in moving forward is national political will.
President Bush’s support provides a large measure of that political will."
--Peter Hoffmann, 31 January 2003
About the book:
Hydrogen is the quintessential eco-fuel. This invisible, tasteless gas is the most abundant element in the universe. It is the basic building block and fuel of stars and an essential raw material in innumerable biological and chemical processes. As a completely nonpolluting fuel, it may hold the answer to growing environmental concerns about atmospheric accumulation of carbon dioxide and the resultant Greenhouse Effect. In this book Peter Hoffmann describes current research toward a hydrogen-based economy. He presents the history of hydrogen energy and discusses the environmental dangers of continued dependence on fossil fuels.
Hydrogen is not an energy source but a carrier that, like electricity, must be manufactured. Today hydrogen is manufactured by "decarbonizing" fossil fuels. In the future it will be derived from water and solar energy and perhaps from "cleaner" versions of nuclear energy. Because it can be made by a variety of methods, Hoffmann argues, it can be easily adapted by different countries and economies. Hoffmann acknowledges the social, political, and economic difficulties in replacing current energy systems with an entirely new one. Although the process of converting to a hydrogen-based economy would be complex, he demonstrates that the environmental and health benefits would far outweigh the costs.
Customer Reviews:
Hydrogen storage is a central issue surrounding adaptation into hydrogen as tomorrow's energy.......2006-01-28
Hydrogen storage is a central issue surrounding adaptation into hydrogen as tomorrow's energy. Internal Combustion Engines burning hydrogen seem like the popular future. Toyota's Rav 4 prototype uses a metal hydride to carry hydrogen in solid form. Hydrogen extracting micro plant under the hood seems unfeasible and hydride storage seems more probable, as the means for storing hydrogen. Steel pressurized tanks seem unfeasible requiring 5,000 psi, weighting 3,400 lbs, and maintaining 800 atmospheres. Hydrides are safer because they cannot spill or vent hydrogen or burn in a crash.
Energy Conversion Devices touts its magnesium based atomically based engineered hydrides as capable of storing hydrogen efficiently and effectively. In 2004, a Toyota Prius housed a ECD solid hydrogen storage system. The prototype Prius achieved 200 miles ranges, used a turbo charged internal combustible engine too boost horse power, innovated with carbon fiber wound tank reducing weight competitively, maintained 1,500 psi during saturation and an operating pressure of 300-500 psi, timeout at eight minutes for refueling with a goal of reaching five minutes, and a storage capacity of 3 kilograms of hydrogen.
Hydrides slow down fast moving neutrons. Hydrides release and absorb hydrogen at different pressures: Hydrogen under higher pressure than equilibrium is absorbed into the metal and is in solid form and gives off heat; Hydrogen under lower pressure than equilibrium releases and heat must be added. To release hydrogen the gas pressure is simply lowered.
The new ECD carbon fiber tank offers huge advantages over a "steel tank" which can weight 25 times as much for the same carrying capacity of hydrogen. The lighter weighting tank overcomes one barrier towards accepting hydrogen as the alternative fuel to oil. In 1997, transportation consumed 54% of the oil consumption, of 18.6 million barrels of oil a day. The second barrier to overcome will be too solving the refueling time lag, reducing refueling times to five minutes or less. More doubt seems to be direct at fuel cell technology. China seems down on fuel cell technology viewing the technology as too expensive for developing countries. More optimism seems to be swinging towards Internal combustible engines running hydrogen.
Important and Exciting Information.......2004-02-09
Tomorrow's Energy is a thorough discussion of a topic that is rapidly gaining importance - hydrogen. The book proposes hydrogen as the energy of the near future. It includes the history of hydrogen as a fuel, and what measures are currently being taken to produce hydrogen-powered automobiles, air and space craft, homes, and offices. Hoffmann describes in detail how hydrogen fuel is produced and used, and why hydrogen is a better choice than fossil fuels. The book discusses what must be done in order for non-polluting hydrogen to overtake fossil fuels, and the prospect of a "hydrogen community."
This book, though obviously in favor of hydrogen energy, provides a detailed and, for the most part, many sided report on hydrogen's possibilities. It has a lot of numbers but is generally easily understood by the layman, though it assumes that the reader has a basic knowledge of chemistry. Hydrogen is an interesting and exciting thing, and this book provide a good understanding of its past, present and future. Stylistically, the book is a bit dry, but has sharp and occasionally witty quotes to lighten the tone. I would recommend "Tomorrow's Energy" to anyone who wants to learn more about this promising subject, as long as the reader uses the information to form their own opinion.
Half the story.......2003-05-06
This book has a lot of useful information but the problem is not the material but the book could use an editor. The story continually jumps back and forth. When the book uses comparisons it goes from Joules to BTUs then Gallons to Liters so you never seem to compare apples to apples or the book should have had a conversion table. It's as if the author is afraid to tell the truth of how it might be a little expensive now to convert, but eventually it will be cost effective. The book also has no diagrams, or graphs that would explain fuel cells or cost effectiveness. ...
The author seems to shy away from nuclear power as a solution for creating hydrogen. I think it would be a great interim solution where you could put the nuclear reactor on sites off shore or in the Great Lakes so you would have a supply of water and pump all the hydrogen and electricity produced to the city. The hydrogen could be sent to fuel cell power plants and fuel stations for vehicles. Eventually from the money made from this move on to geothermal methods.
I don't want to seem down on this book because it gave me a lot of good information the best part was the different ways that they can create hydrogen. Hydropower, Wind, Solar, Photovoltaic, Biomass, Advanced Solar concepts, orbiting solar mirrors, converting thermal energy from oceans and Geothermal. The one that I left out that I thought was the coolest was the Giant Solar Chimneys. I found out that they are actually making one in Australia; I can only hope that it works. I liked the part with the solar mirrors and why they didn't work, that was kind of funny.
The book never explains why they are not doing some of these things. I guess because of the cost but it is not clear. The best and safest way would be to produce hydrogen is geothermal but the book never explains why we don't do it.
The chapter on the uses for hydrogen started out interesting but ends with a walk into the cosmos with the SETI stuff. It was parenthetical information that the author wanted us to be aware of that did not belong in this book.
This book seem like a confused mass of projects that never seemed to get off the ground and a couple that could be a solution for the future. I wish the book was organized so that the history came first and then focus in on various areas, production, types of fuel cells, different forms of hydrogen, infrastructure, present uses, future use and the road ahead and what are the possible type of plans for the future.
I wish the book could have recommended more books to read on the subject that could answer some of these questions.
I guess I was looking for more clear cut solutions.
Somehow disappointing.......2003-04-27
This book contains lots of valuable information and is certainly worth reading. But at the same time, I had expected more of it. It describes too many factual details about the history of hydrogen's use in various applications and gives too few technical information about hydrogen as a fuel. The book does not give a very thorough analysis of how a hydrogen economy could be established, how those massive quantities of hydrogen will be produced in a way that is both environment friendly and realistic, why or why not to use nuclear power to do so, etc.
Rather, it leaves a lot of open questions and does not give answers to the issues that really matter (e.g. if hydrogen is produced through reforming of traditional carbon fuels, what to do with the carbon then at the production plant).
Nevertheless, the book is certainly worth reading... I think it's one of the only serious books on hydrogen at this time.
Hydrogen power now!!.......2002-12-26
This is a good book as an introduction to hydrogen and its' potential uses in many aspects of our lives. However, I disagree with the author's conclusion that it would take decades to replace the existing infrastructure. That may be the case in a socialistic economy but in the U.S., if there is a need and a desire, we can do it in just a few years.
The fact is that we have a huge need to get out from under the yoke of OPEC. We are forced to be heavily involved in mid east politics just to insure a constant flow of oil to support our everyday lives. Meanwhile, we have put ourselves in the crosshairs of the Islamic extremists who want us out of the mid east and to moderate our policies in Israel. If we want to prevent any further terrorist actions against us, then the best thing to do is develop hydrogen power and nuclear power and divest ourselves from mid east politics as fast as possible.
Write your Congressman and U.S. Senators and demand that we move quickly on this technology.
Book Description
Hydrogen and Fuel Cells: A Comprehensive Guide explains why hydrogen has emerged as an essential area for research and technology development worldwide. It explores the forces driving the market for hydrogen-powered fuel cells, as well as the technical and economic barriers that could derail a transition toward hydrogen energy systems. The book reviews hydrogen's history, and discusses current and future applications for hydrogen fuel cells. It also explains in straightforward language how hydrogen is produced, stored, and transported, and it discusses the economics of these activities and their environmental impact. The book's appendixes provide more technical details, such as cost calculations.
Key Features & Benefits:
Written in easy to read language rather than technical jargon
Offers a comprehensive overview of the hydrogen economy concept
Develop a better understanding on the timely topic of hydrogen and its place in the world's future energy mix along with fossil fuels and renewable resources
Book Description
The message of The Hydrogen Economy is resoundingly simple: The earth is depleting its oil reserves and even the most generous estimates show oil reserves peaking in about forty years. The specter of global warming and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the oil-rich regions of the earth worsen the problem considerably. The answer, asserts Rifkin, is to embrace a new energy source that is just now gaining public attention: hydrogen.
This abundant element, found everywhere on earth including in air and water, can be transformed, using sustainable methods, into a potentially limitless form of clean-burning fuel. But this potential will founder unless we act now to create the necessary global infrastructure before the factors above overtake us. If we embrace this momentous opportunity, Rifkin says, we will also be able to reinvent the global economy as one in which an inexpensive energy grid provides affordable, efficient fuel for virtually everyone on earth. If we fail, our current economic regime-built exclusively on fossil fuels-will collapse. As the concept of a hydrogen-based future grows in the news, The Hydrogen Economy will lead the way.
Customer Reviews:
Facts take a back seat to idealogy.......2007-01-20
While Rifkin does a good job of pointing out the problem with our current, oil-driven economy, his solution of a hydrogen based economy often ignores the reality of the situation. Throughout the book, he egregiously glosses over the need to use energy to produce hydrogen gas, implying that hydrogen fuel cells can be net producers of energy, which is simply false.
When he mentions that hydrogen is the most abundant element on the planet, he egregiously glosses over the fact that hydrogen, as found naturally, is not a potential source of energy (at least without fusion power). He excitedly describes the possibilities of hydrogen fuel cells producing electricity on a decentralized grid, but spends very little time talking about how they might get the hydrogen to fuel them.
He does briefly mention the possible ways of producing hydrogen gas from renewable energy, but he fails to show how they can be efficiently implemented to replace fossil fuels. He uses anecdotes to support solar power, his apparent favorite, without providing realistic figures on it's widespread use, especially in more northerly regions. He also positively mentions hydroelectric and wind power, apparently without considering their possibly damaging effects on ecosystems or the practicality of producing enough energy from them. With nuclear power, on the other hand, he focuses exclusively on the negatives, perhaps because it's associated with "old-fashioned, centralized" power corporations, which he considers to be part of the problem.
Most egregiously, though, he almost completely ignores conservation and efficiency improvements. He paints a utopian picture of the future, with free, clean energy for all, if we can just make the transition to his fabled "Hydrogen Economy".
The sections discussing the problems with fossil fuels, which comprise about 2/3rds of the book, are significantly better than the sections pertaining to the so-called "Hydrogen Economy". While he may be something of an alarmist, he mostly does back his claims with data and research, and he provides an inclusive picture, considering geopolitical, environmental, and technical perspectives, including the possibilities inherent in tar sands and gasification of coal. However, I expected that a book titled "The Hydrogen Economy" to provide decent information on hydrogen.
Mr. Rifkin is out of touch with reality. Come on!.......2006-09-30
While I hope and pray that we ultimately make our way to a hydrogen economy, the only way to get to this point is one that Mr. Rifkin vehemently opposes. Nuclear power is the only viable solution to create sufficient sources of hydrogen to sustain a hydrogen economy. The alternative is a reliance on fossil fuels vis-à-vis coal and natural gas.
Mr. Rifkin's adherence to "no nukes" is based on a steadfast dogma that is out of touch with reality.
1) Nuclear power is economical. Our current base of nuclear power is the reason that we have not seen the dramatic swings in prices in electricity (has anyone watched the price of natural gas or oil in the past few years?) Nuclear power plants have been cost competitive with other sources of electricity. Do you believe that our electricity moguls adhere to nuclear plants because they like them? Wall Street runs this economy. If it didn't make financial sense, they would not do it.
2) We do know how to transport and dispose of the waste; politicians have stood in the way. There are far worse things that are transported everyday and no one complains. Put this in perspective: all of the waste from all of the nuclear plants in the US would fill a football field about 14 feet high. Compare this to coal. In one year the US mines and burns enough coal to fill the state of Rhode Island in 2 feet of coal, every year. This results in greenhouse gases, acid rain, mercury, and ash. While nuclear waste is indisputably nasty stuff, it is manageable. Congress has spent billions of dollars to analyze Yucca Mountain. They have forced scientists to consider the effects for out to 1 million years. Talk about out of touch with reality - there will have been a dozen ice ages and new species will walk this planet by then. Not to mention that the proposed repository is 1000 feet below the surface, 1000 feet above the water table, and in a geologically stable area. Furthermore, and here's the real irony, Yucca Mountain is in the middle of the Nevada Test Site which has been the host to over 900 nuclear explosions for the purposes of a more effective nuclear warhead. It's already a nuclear wasteland.
3) Uranium resources are running out? Really? Did you actually say that Mr. Rifkin? With spent fuel reprocessing and alternate fuel cycles we could literally create an endless supply of fissile material. Literally. And don't talk about the potential for bombs. We are dismantling bombs to burn them in reactors today! Not because we need the fuel, but because it is an effective way to dispose of the warheads.
4) Recently, Mr. Rifkin cited terrorism as risk. According to security experts, while any industrial facility could serve as a viable target for a terrorist attack, nuclear power falls lower on the list. Seriously, a terrorist attack from a bomb at a major sporting event (made with supplies from your local feed store) or cyanide in an aquifer (purchased from a scientific supply store) pose much more serious threats. If you want to try this theory, drive to your closest nuclear plant and take a look at what it would take to get into it. The security and barriers exceed that of which would find at the most secure government facilities.
NOTE: Mr. Rifkin recently talked about an Australian nuclear power plant. Check your facts Mr Rifkin. They do not even have a nuclear power plant. They have one research reactor. It's a very small research reactor. (There are dozens like it throughout the US at university and other research facilities.) Google ANSTO HIFAR Reactor. Check your facts. If you don't understand the difference you shouldn't be talking about it.
5) Finally, Rifkin sites nuclear power as "highly centralized, clunky technology of a bygone era" and that it is "elite power" controlled by the few. Hmmm, would you want it controlled by the many? That's laughable. Rifkin is showing his true socialist colors here. Communist's running nuclear plants. Do you suppose that is the better alternative?
Solar Power? Take your head out of the sand. Solar power is not a viable solution to offset our electricity demand. It's not the panacea that you hope that it is. If it was, don't you think capitalist would have jumped all over this already? Electricity is a $300 billion per year market. If you could supplant an existing technology, you could become the richest person in the world. I don't care who would oppose you. Our capitalist system would not ignore a $300 billion market. It just not technically feasible - at this time. Maybe hundred years from now. But we have a real crisis on our hands right now. And we only have one solution. Nuclear Power.
While I admire Jeremy Rifkin for publishing this book, because a hydrogen economy is only sustainable solution for our planet, his vehement opposition to nuclear power demonstrates his lack of credibility.
I would encourage people to forget our biases that may be based on opinion and emotion. We should have the open mindedness to consider all technology to save our planet.
Important stuff.......2006-02-24
I found this book very eye opening and informational. It is a great read.
Ignore the negative reviewers and understand the real crisis.......2005-10-14
It's best that we give Hydrogen a chance rather than continuing to rely on BIG OIL like drug addicts. For all the taxpayers' money that is wasted on pushing for wasting resources, why not push for a country that can lead the way for true energy savings. Don't let the book's haters fool you. Buy this book and learn to help save our planet from oil cartel terrorists all over the world.
Are We There Yet?- Heading Down the Super Highway to a Hydrogen Energy Future?.......2005-06-27
The Creation of the World-Wide Energy Web and the Redistribution of Power on Earth, The Hydrogen Economy by Jeremy Rifkin, 2002, ISBN 1-58542-193-6 (Hardback) Penguin Putnam, New York, 294 p.
Jeremy Rifkin begins his internationally successful book by reference to the situation which applied at the end of the 18th century in the Western World. The new rationalism of Newton and other scientists and philosophers heralded the oncoming industrial revolution, the American Revolution and the French revolution, all with their respective impacts upon history and subsequent generations. Rifkin starts with his view of the analogous situation facing the world today: namely the failure of existing orthodoxies and the radial nature of new possibilities.
Rifkin is a veritable optimist with his references to what he sees as radical change at work in our world of vastly changing technology and society. He contrasts the issue of finite fossil fuels and the forces of world gloablisation; he sees the current limits of energy supply as providing the opportunity for the computer and telecommunications revolution to fuse the new hydrogen energy revolution. The abundance of hydrogen is what he sees as the key to an opportunity for every human being to be empowered by "the first truly democratic energy regime in history".
While I don't like pouring cold water on this prospect of energy Nirvana for everyone on the face of the earth, I suggest the Jeremy also include in his 18th century vinaigrette of the world some of Adam Smith (The Wealth of Nations) and Thomas Malthus (Essay on the Principle of Population), so that Rifkin's `world without energy want' can be compared with some of the reality to which the world is likely to return. Some of these other great minds which Rifkin didn't include in his introduction note how struggle and disproportionate endowment of resources make trade and exchange a necessity, and so to has been the development of major trading enterprises and technologies. Such enterprises and their technologies don't readily give up their advantages or market position just because a hydrogen economy is a very nice and equitable idea and we would all be better off, environmentally (the environment - the last free `public good') if it came about.
What I find difficult to accept as an assumption by Rifkin is that each member of the human race will have equal opportunity to share in the hydrogen economy. Hydrogen is not readily accessible without some form of technology and existing energy - a fact which would enhance the potential for commercial (large) organizations to gain more through its use than the isolated actions of individuals, no matter how well run and spam free the world wide web might become as a marketplace or as a means of enhancing global welfare. While the dream of endless public participation is a high ideal, sadly reality doesn't seem to match this ideal. Profits and the potential for market power are the ultimate drivers which will limit the advent of the WWW hydrogen energy dream.
The book is an admirable effort and one with lots of scope for people to be inspired by the possibilities; but sadly, this world lacks the capacity to attain anything close to the conditions necessary for this dream to be realized. Rifkin's book is an admirable look at the potential for `what if' but in any race to the future my tip is that the runner that tries hardest is the one which is called `Self-interest'; it can be relied upon to take every advantage over such things as `equity' or `justice'.
A terrific book if you want to look at the world's potential but not one which fits with our patchy, if not Dickensian future age, of gradual energy poverty.
Dr Ian Lavering
Adjunct Professor
MBT Program UNSW
Book Description
Microbiologist Michael Cochrane has been murdered. His brother Paul wants to find out who did it...and why. Accompanied by a beautiful industrial spy, Elena Sandoval, Paul follows the trail from California to Cambridge, Massachusetts.Along the way, a lot of people seem to be interested in getting in their way, or discovering what they know. It's clear that Michael was working with cyanobacteria, the bacteria that crack water molecules and release free oxygen. It's less clear why this would get anybody killed. Or why oil billionaire Lionel Gould wants to pay Paul and Elena big money for the details of Michael's work. Then the truth emerges: Michael had found a way to get cyanobacteria to crack hydrogen out of simple water molecules.A process that could be industrialized, producing enough hydrogen to cleanly power the world.Practically free fuel, out of one of the planet's most abundant resources: water. No wonder everyone, from Middle Eastern heavies to hired domestic muscle, suddenly seems to be trying to get in Paul and Elena's way. As the world's secrets-and their own-teeter in the balance, both Paul and Elena must decide what to do before it's too late.Contemporary, topical, and exciting, The Green Trap is a thriller of today's energy skulduggery-both the kind you read about in the headlines, and the kind you don't.
Customer Reviews:
When gas hits $7/gal, it's time for technology wars!.......2007-07-25
The Green Trap, by Ben Bova, is a pleasant but forgettable story about scientist Michael Cochrane's discovery of an engineered organism producing burnable H2 from water. After Mike's murder so foul, his brother Paul gets mixed up in the search for "the missing laptop." The bad guys want it badly, the bad guys vie for "baddest" bad guy, and the bad guys are bad. That's abut the story in a nutshell.
Paul Cochrane gets involved immediately with bombshell "government agent" Elena Sandoval, a schemer by trade but a sucker for a doe-eyed scientist. She'll give up her career for Paul, and Paul decides to save the world.
Relationships really just need a murder or two to get jump-started.
This is written as a thriller, not as sci-fi. When gas hits $7/gal, it's time for technology wars!
Kudos on the cover and little else.......2007-06-04
Buying into this story line takes more suspension of disbelief than viewing Harry Potter as non-fiction. Fortunately, I'm only out time and not money as I borrowed the book from my local library which, to their credit, classified it as Fiction thus saving the SciFi section from the wrath of 'one rotten apple spoils them all.' As most other reviewers have noted, not only is the story line both weak and old but it's hard to feel sympathy for any of the characters. And that's the real problem with this yarn. Even if you buy into the nonsense that the oil and automobile companies engage in ongoing criminal activities to keep new energy sources off the market, there's little here to hold your attention. No innovative science and the characters behave like non-thinking automatons. The cover calls it "A Thriller" but, if Bova is trying to emulate Crichton, he's got a long way to go.
Trapped.......2007-05-15
Ben Bova was probably the first SciFi writer to jump on the "Obviously Human-Caused Impending Catastrophic Global Warming" (OHCICGW) Bandwagon"; but he has now been joined by McDevitt, Steele, and Sawyer, all of whom have produced OHCICGW stinkers in the last few years. I guess Bova felt out of place, as his previously OHCICGW-related ASTEROID WARS books weren't that bad, other than the OHCICGW premise in the first book from the series - so, he went and produced a stinker to top all OHCICGW stinkers.
True to form, Bova always attempts to sprinkle a token spanish phrase in his books - which he almost always gets wrong... in this book, it is "Las Casita de Molina", which should be "La Casita de Molina".
All throughout the book, I kept wondering why the idiotic main character Paul Cochrane simply just doesn't call the cops!
Poor reading. Repetitive theme. Do not buy........2007-04-13
It seems as though the only reason for this book was the writer's desire to plug his idea that somehow this special brand of bacteria will rescue us from the gasoline addiction that we have here in the US. All of the characters are poorly drawn stereotypes. Not even the hero and his love evoke any passion. Stay away from this book.
"Worst Book Award Wniner" (multiple categories).......2007-03-17
This has to rank as one of the year's top stinkeroos - so bad as to almost defy description. Seriously, where do you start when every single aspect is pathetic and inept? It's a bad rewrite of Urban Legend 214 that we've all heard in so many variations. A highschool class project was a fuel with no emissions but "they" kept it off the market, a guy in his basement hammers out an ultracheap fuel cell but winds up missing, a line worker comes up with a 300 mpg motor but GM "does something." The author has added a predictable love interest.
If a shredder is unavailable how about an editor? From "between you and I" [sic] to "Las [sic] Casita" to possibly the worst dialogue around - it's a mess. Obviously, the author's ideas of how business operates are based on hack films, bad move-for-TV movies and "populist" spouting - in other words, no resemblance to reality. In the real world CEO's do not kidnap folks or kill those who outwit them. Even more absurd, no CEO in their right mind would "put away" a product worth trillions. Teams of hitmen do not come out of the wood work at the drop of a hat.
This is at most a two hour read - probably about half the time it took to be written. Each section of "chapters" (BIG fonts, a couple of pages long) has a little "true" story about the state of alternative energy. Actually these were more interesting than the tale itself. It is all so trite, hack and predictable. Bova has always been a light writer but this makes fat free look decadent. The dialogue is pitiful, the relationships make no sense, politicians are crafty, CEO's are ruthless, cops are straight from Law & Order - caricatures, not characters.
**** Spoiler Warning **** (not that it matters) Plot: Guy gets call from brother who's invented something. Brother is murdered. Guy meets love interest (sexy, beautiful, smart,) who wants info on dead brother's work. Then one long chase scene across the country, fighting, sex, deals, etc Gal admits she was banging brother who was killed "by mistake" then hero releases brother's entire R&D (as email attachments!!!!!) and gets run off road by evil CEO's hoodlums. Take Cover.
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