Aircela demonstrates a renewable way to make fuel...

[rblongboarder]

As a technology person, I'm always looking for interesting new developments. My brother sent me this; curious to see what discussion this spawns...

Here's the original news story:

Compact machine turns air into ready-to-use gasoline

New York-based Aircela unveils refrigerator-size device that converts air and water into fossil-free gasoline, with initial deployments planned for 2025.

www.foxnews.com

Company website:

Aircela

www.aircela.com

 

[eriknetherlands]

Promising!
Beside fuelling your own car (fleet), I also see it as an interesting solution to the energy dilemma I face as a home owner with solar cells.

I have too much energy in the summer when I use only 10% of it, and in wintertime the solar panels only make 5% of what i need.

If I can create and store gasoline in the summertime, and burn it in the winter, that's a huge saving on the natural gas that we otherwise use.

 

[E911]

Even at low production levels you could power your own fleet of collector cars... assuming the cost could be somewhat reasonable.

 

[deQuincey]

As a technology person, I'm always looking for interesting new developments. My brother sent me this; curious to see what discussion this spawns...

Here's the original news story:

Compact machine turns air into ready-to-use gasoline

New York-based Aircela unveils refrigerator-size device that converts air and water into fossil-free gasoline, with initial deployments planned for 2025.

www.foxnews.com

Company website:

Aircela

www.aircela.com

amazing...so surprised that noone gave a single explanation, and that the pressure of the liquid coming out was so big !

in spain in the 50ties a guy invented a water fueled engine,

i think ayatolah will be mad at aircella if this is a success

 

[Arde]

What is described would be an energy storage product, not an energy source. The source is perhaps solar.
There was a scheme using algae that provided fuel at massive scale, not sure what happened.
The carbon capture angles are interesting, although they are negated when you use the fuel eventually...

 

[jmackro]

What is described would be an energy storage product, not an energy source. The source is perhaps solar.

Exactly. And Aircela doesn't mention the ratio of energy in to energy out. They stress that the source of the energy is "renewable", as if renewable energy was free. The big advantage of this - over clean hydrogen, batteries, etc. - is that it is compatible with existing internal combustion vehicles.

 

[Arde]

Exactly. And Aircela doesn't mention the ratio of energy in to energy out. They stress that the source of the energy is "renewable", as if renewable energy was free. The big advantage of this - over clean hydrogen, batteries, etc. - is that it is compatible with existing internal combustion vehicles.

If the input is electric you need to factor in the cost of home solar panels. If I can place their system in my backyard that solar is free...
Yes, ICE compatibility is huge, yes it emits CO2 while hydrogen emits water, but then again water vapor is a worse green house gas than CO2...