The Apollo space program relied on hydrogen fuel cells, which work by stripping electrons from hydrogen atoms.
Battery power is one alternative, but so are hydrogen fuel cells, which offer greater range.
Then he mentioned cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells that emit only water.
Even President Obama has nixed federal funding for hydrogen fuel cells, while Ford and Renault recently halted their own programs.
Or vote for subsidies for advanced biofuels, hydrogen fuel cells or batteries.
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Still, it's not too hard to imagine a future where the majority of autos run on electrons -- whether they're pushed from batteries or hydrogen fuel cells.
Of the world's automakers, General Motors is the most resolute champion of a future filled with vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells that emit only water as exhaust.
Hydrogen fuel cells are at last becoming a viable alternative.
The money received by taxing the oil and gas industry would then be spent by the government to support research for electric vehicles, biofuels, solar, and hydrogen fuel cells.
What emerged was a wish list from customers that included cleaner ways to burn coal and more efficient wastewater treatment systems, as well as nuclear power and hydrogen fuel cells.
The company vows to double its revenues from 17 clean-technology businesses, ranging from renewable energy and hydrogen fuel cells, to water filtration and purification systems, to cleaner aircraft and locomotive engines.
The state has about 350 hydrogen fuel cells running around today, along with 34, 000 plug-in hybrid or all electric vehicles and 380, 000 conventional hybrids like the Toyota Prius, the air resources board said.
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What's certain is that without the effort that went into getting a spacecraft to the Moon, the development of efficient, useful hydrogen fuel cells would be nowhere near as advanced as it is today.
And while there are already prototypes of much more efficient cars on the road -- such as those using natural gas, electricity, hydrogen fuel cells -- they may only be a baby step toward the future.
But with so much competition from abroad, and with so many competing future powertrain technologies out there--electric hybrids, clean diesels and hydrogen fuel cells--companies can't afford to go it alone, says David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.
In his 50-year career, Ovshinsky received more than 400 patents in the U.S. and more than 800 foreign patents covering a range of technologies, including nickel-metal hydride batteries, rewritable CDs, DVD optical discs, flat-screen liquid crystal displays, hydrogen fuel cells, thin-film solar cells and others.
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This is mainly due to the high levels of risk and uncertainty that come with new tech: private firms would generally rather seek out low-risk, low-cost alternatives (i.e. more efficient internal processes or capital goods) than to invest time and effort into developing high-risk, initially-high cost alternatives (i.e. hydrogen fuel cells).
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So the use of hydrogen in fuel cells to run cars, buses and trucks are still stuck in traffic.
In most fuel cells hydrogen is fed to the anode, where it is ionised into a proton and an electron.
First it was hydrogen fuel-cells, then ethanol-powered cars, then plug-ins.
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The hydrogen for these fuel cells (and for the rest of Iceland's new hydrogen economy, should it come to pass) will be made initially in a fertiliser plant that has been turning the stuff out since the 1950s.
His conclusion is radical: Shift from oil to alternatives like fuel cells burning hydrogen.
Fuel cells convert hydrogen, natural gas or other fuel into electricity through an electrochemical process.
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The newspapers were full of articles on solar power, fusion and converting the economy to run on fuel cells and hydrogen.
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Delivered to a local filling station, such liquids can be readily reformed on site into pure hydrogen for powering fuel cells.
By using easily obtainable cobalt and phosphates, the MIT work could make it a lot more viable to obtain hydrogen directly from solar cells.
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Carbon dioxide, blamed for global warming, is produced when fuels like coal and natural gas are broken down to make the hydrogen used in fuel cells.
The power output is small, orders of magnitude lower than from hydrogen or methanol fuel cells, but the supply and handling of these flammable fuels is avoided.
In 2010, several countries invested in fuel cells and hydrogen.
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