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Title: Tomorrow's Energy: Hydrogen, Fuel Cells, and the Prospects for a Cleaner Planet by Peter Hoffmann ISBN: 0-262-58221-X Publisher: MIT Press Pub. Date: 09 September, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.6 (5 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Important and Exciting Information
Comment: 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.
Rating: 3
Summary: Half the story
Comment: 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.
Rating: 3
Summary: A little bit disappointing
Comment: 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.
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Title: Powering the Future: The Ballard Fuel Cell and the Race to Change the World by Tom Koppel ISBN: 0471644218 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 29 September, 1999 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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Title: The Hydrogen Economy: The Creation of the World-Wide Energy Web and the Redistribution of Power on Earth by Jeremy Rifkin ISBN: 1585421936 Publisher: J. P. Tarcher Pub. Date: 12 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Fuel from Water: Energy Independence With Hydrogen by Michael A. Peavey, Peavey Michael A. ISBN: 0945516045 Publisher: Merit Products Pub. Date: September, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Power to the People : How the Coming Energy Revolution Will Transform an Industry, Change Our Lives, and Maybe Even Save the Planet by Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran ISBN: 0374236755 Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux Pub. Date: 30 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Alternative Energy (Essential Science Series) by Marek Walisiewicz, John Gribbin ISBN: 0789489198 Publisher: DK Publishing Pub. Date: 01 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.00 |
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