I thought the only byproducts of fuel cell was water. I thought you pass hydrogen throw carbon plates and it creates electricity and produces water, where is the benzene coming from.
Just another example that all these environmentalist say stop using coal and nuclear power and use something like few cell and it to has bad byproducts.
Usually you use a catalyst (we used sulphuric acid in jr. high) to assist with splitting the water into hydrogen and oxygen. I think that's what's happening here, or they're using it to reduce erosion of the electrodes(?). https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/j100641a013
Your comparison with coal and nuclear is weak. Burning coal produces large amounts of toxic gases, ash, often releases Sulphur and Mercury compounds, other heavy metals including radioactive compounds. Nuclear power produces small amounts of extremely long term waste.
Benzene is biodegradable (but toxic in the meantime) and has a number of disposal methods.
Thanks for the reference on the Benzene. I was curious where it was coming from since the working fuel cells I have seen a long time ago basically feed in Hydrogen and water vapor dripped out the other side. Use to think this was great except for how do you get Hydrogen and distribute it to all the places you need it. Forget the fact that Hydrogen in the present of Oxygen with an ignition source makes a really nice explosion.
My generalization was more about nothing come for free as everyone would like the believe, they all have their bad sides. Yes coal burning has bad side effect, mostly CO2 today, all the other things you mentioned are mostly scrubbed out before it hit the atmosphere thus the reason our power plant do not puff smoke anymore. Plus most power plants have been converted to natural gas. BTW CO2 biodegrades as well just not at the rate which it is produce today.
Arguably, Nuclear is the cleanest fuel we have per KW produced it has the lowest carbon foot print of any power source. Its bad, it is when things go horrible wrong, it could kill lots of people quickly verses slowly over years like CO2 or Benzene. It is the possibility of a horrific event, is the reason people do not like Nuclear. If we invested in breeder reactors the Nuclear byproduct could be reduced significantly. BTW France get about 75% of their power from Nuclear, and no horrific events in its history. It exports more power than it uses because it has the lowest cost per KW of any power generation.
Solar is not clean either, do you know all the nasty chemicals and the amount of power used to make a solar cell which is less than 50% efficient on converting sun to electricity and last about 20 yrs before the panel need to be replaced since the efficiency has dropped in half. Most power plants have a design life of 30 yrs but most are 40 to 50 yrs old and still running at the same efficiency levels. Lets not forget Helium is used in semiconductor fabrication and we are quickly using us the world supply of Helium and when this gone there is no replacement.
My point is simple, there is no silver bullets all we are doing today is replacing one bad thing with another, instead of understanding the bad things and figuring out a way to eliminate the bad. Having solar panels scatter all over the surface of the earth is just plain ugly and inefficient use of resources. My solution to this problem was to try an cut my power usage on a daily basis. I have replaced all my lights in my house with LED and cut my power usage in half.
A $40k fine for improper handling of hazardous waste? How is that in any way a disincentive to a company as large and profitable as Apple?
Yep, completely agree. $40K to a (near) Trillion
Dollar company is not something that would make it think twice, so
you'd have to question whether it is an effective deterrent (and let's
face it, the purpose of a fine is to try and deter you from
re-offending). Now compare that to a $40K fine for a $500K company.
That smaller company would take notice.
I'm a strong supporter of % based fines rather than fixed rate, so they are more meaningful as a deterrent.
Should Macy's means test your income level before telling you the price of a sweater?
And why would a small violation in one state have a fine based on the entire net worth of a one of the largest corporations in the world.
Equality is a good idea. Try it, you'll like it.
The EU uses fines based on worldwide revenues as a proper "cure" for EU specific violations of competition rules. I've always questioned that basis myself but apparently it's all legally supported.
No wonder the EU is a massive garbage fire for businesses.
Comments
Thanks for the reference on the Benzene. I was curious where it was coming from since the working fuel cells I have seen a long time ago basically feed in Hydrogen and water vapor dripped out the other side. Use to think this was great except for how do you get Hydrogen and distribute it to all the places you need it. Forget the fact that Hydrogen in the present of Oxygen with an ignition source makes a really nice explosion.
My generalization was more about nothing come for free as everyone would like the believe, they all have their bad sides. Yes coal burning has bad side effect, mostly CO2 today, all the other things you mentioned are mostly scrubbed out before it hit the atmosphere thus the reason our power plant do not puff smoke anymore. Plus most power plants have been converted to natural gas. BTW CO2 biodegrades as well just not at the rate which it is produce today.
Arguably, Nuclear is the cleanest fuel we have per KW produced it has the lowest carbon foot print of any power source. Its bad, it is when things go horrible wrong, it could kill lots of people quickly verses slowly over years like CO2 or Benzene. It is the possibility of a horrific event, is the reason people do not like Nuclear. If we invested in breeder reactors the Nuclear byproduct could be reduced significantly. BTW France get about 75% of their power from Nuclear, and no horrific events in its history. It exports more power than it uses because it has the lowest cost per KW of any power generation.
Solar is not clean either, do you know all the nasty chemicals and the amount of power used to make a solar cell which is less than 50% efficient on converting sun to electricity and last about 20 yrs before the panel need to be replaced since the efficiency has dropped in half. Most power plants have a design life of 30 yrs but most are 40 to 50 yrs old and still running at the same efficiency levels. Lets not forget Helium is used in semiconductor fabrication and we are quickly using us the world supply of Helium and when this gone there is no replacement.
My point is simple, there is no silver bullets all we are doing today is replacing one bad thing with another, instead of understanding the bad things and figuring out a way to eliminate the bad. Having solar panels scatter all over the surface of the earth is just plain ugly and inefficient use of resources. My solution to this problem was to try an cut my power usage on a daily basis. I have replaced all my lights in my house with LED and cut my power usage in half.