Using Sunlight & Silver to make H & O from H2O

Sunlight shines on silver technology: This amazing Australian invention could mean the end of energy shortages and the possibility of $1000 per oz for silver

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2010/06/07/2918757.htm

 

When cars run on it - How many miles to the ounce will it do

 

Considering the number of cars in the world today? Not many, we'll exhaust the entire global supply in about 6 weeks.

 

I don't see how this could be a viable alternative. Go from peak one resource to peak another resource..

 

I don't think the silver is consumed, they would recycle it.

 

Yeah apparently the Silver Phosphate is a catalyst, the water is reformed when used as a fuel so essentially it's 100% recycling. It will be interesting to see if the technology progresses. Sounds too good to be true.

 

Sounds like a perpetual motion device.

 

No, because it requires energy to recycle the silver compound back to where it can be used again. If it works it sounds like it's just a way to split water with less energy input than electrolysis - not a free lunch, you still need energy from somewhere.

 

I think they're planning to use Sunlight as an energy source unless they put a Supertax on it first.

 

I mean the energy to recycle the silver compound back into a form where it can be used again

 

DAYLIGHT ROBBERY!

And I think they use silver for the various components that make up solar panels too...

 

Sunlight causes global warming, so Gillard will tax it and give the money to Goldman Sachs.

 

The thing that's still a bit problematic here is the rate of production (and the question of phosphor salts...) Ag3PO4 will indeed react as described, and this was first proposed around '95 I think... could be wrong on that..

Anyway, as a matter of energy transfer, say we harness/garnish/whatever 1000 watts of sunlight. In an hour, at say, 50% efficiency, we have sufficient hydrogen and oxygen to run a 50 HP engine for around 48 seconds... So the idea of this being a "self contained" system isn't really viable.

However - having said that - this could still be a very efficient way to produce hydrogen and oxygen on a large scale, and this seems viable. After all, we don't all have small refinery in our back yards do we? It does mean that the cost of producing hydrogen for engine fuelling could become much, much cheaper than it is now. Currently we'd be lucky to run an efficiency of 16% using a solar panel and electrolysis to produce the hydrogen...

Did I ever mention my R&D background got me into stacking silver?