September 09, 2024

Bob Lazar's Hyrdrogen Corvette

We all know about the push for switching people from gas vehicles to electric, but there is another technology that most of us have forgotten about... Hydrogen fuel and it's not a fantasy, in fact, the technology has been around for years.

During the space race to the moon, we used Alkaline Fuel Cells to power the Apollo space capsules. This method combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce power. Each fuel cell would generate 27 to 31 volts, and each spacecraft had 3 fuel cells. Another benefit of this method was that a byproduct of the fuel cell was drinkable water. Plus this also could be used for cooling.

Now many of us have heard the stories of cars running on water, but according to most scientists, water just can't be split apart fast enough to power a car. Bob Lazar once said you would need a nuclear power plant following you down the road to produce enough power for that. And Bob Lazar knows what he is talking about because he has been working on hydrogen fuel since the 1970s. 

If you're wondering if he ever got a viable version of hydrogen fuel... he did! In the 1990s he converted his Corvette to run on hydrogen. The system had metal storage tanks filled with hydride. Hydride is a safe way to store hydrogen without the worry of an explosion. It keeps the hydrogen safely locked away until the temperature reaches 300 degrees. Bob's version was not only able to power the car, but he also had a solar-powered hydrogen machine to refill the tanks. The main problem was the system was slow to refill. He would leave the car hooked up to the machine overnight and it would refill over about 8 hours.

Considering he made all of this by himself and it actually worked, it's hard to understand why 30 years later this technology isn't widely available. With the energy demands of today, this should be an option that everyone can use. There are all kinds of excuses you'll find. The infrastructure would be too expensive to build. The energy cost of producing hydrogen would be very high and since we use mostly fossil fuel to produce electricity, the whole system would be counterintuitive.

The high cost of power to produce hydrogen is something I agree with because there is no sense in creating clean energy on one end while you are using fossil fuels at the other end. Sadly this is a fact millions of people and even sadder than that, our politicians have overlooked. What good is having people drive electric cars when we are using fossil fuels to make the energy to charge them? While it may be a step in the right direction, as you read Bob Lazar made sure to use clean energy while making the hydrogen fuel. Taking steps like these is what can have a huge impact on our future. 

It amazes me how so many of our leaders are willing to sell out the future of our children and grandchildren for more profits today. Today the United States is more divided than any other time since the civil war and our politicians are working overtime to keep it that way. If you're wondering what the benefit of dividing us is, it's quite simple. As long as were are divided, we will stay angry. Angry people are very easy to control especially when you control what they need to be angry about. It doesn't matter if you're a Democrat or Republican, the system works the same on both sides. With all major media outlets owned by just a couple of companies, each tied to one of two political parties, you are no longer given the news in the form of facts. Today the media will present a story and tell you exactly how you need to feel about it.

Information is power, and this power gets used in ways that often don't benefit the majority of people. This is why you'll never see any politician fighting for capping credit card interest rates. When our leaders think too much about themselves or don't think enough about the future, the best ideas can fall by the wayside. 

Carl Sagen once asked the question "How many future generations should the people of today be responsible for?". We should work hard to preserve the future for our children. Once we understand damage is being done, we should put considerable effort into coming up with solutions and alternatives. 

If a lone scientist could make a working hydrogen-powered car 30 years ago, we should have tons of other non-gas car options on the road today. Some people have said America's plan dating back to the 1960s, was to position themselves to end up as the last country standing with oil. This was before many other countries of the world discovered their own oil. We can only hope that this is not still America's plan for global power.  

Not all is lost though! As a country, we have come a long way in a short time. Our gas-powered cars are becoming more fuel-efficient and there are many companies, new and old, working to provide reliable and affordable clean energy.

There is one thing we all need to watch out for, and that is SCAMS! With anything new, there will be countless people ready to take advantage of unsuspecting people. We have been seeing this with solar panels. Everyone has seen the commercials about your state giving our free solar panels. They sound like legit programs but most of them are fake. A common one is, that you're sold a system that you never actually own. You'll be paying every month to rent or lease them. There are all kinds of shady rules in the contract like if you sell your home, the next owner has to agree to the solar contract terms. Another problem with renting or leasing is you won't get any state solar incentive tax credit. They will promise you these, and if you look up the credits online, they are real but... the solar company will be the one claiming your tax credit since they are the owners of the solar panels, not you. There are a bunch of other gimmicks but with any new technology coming online, we have to do our own research. The old saying is still true today, if it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is.

One thing is for sure, it will be exciting to see what new technology gets put into cars in the coming years. Hopefully, they continue to get more fuel-efficient and maybe even come out with some new clean ways of powering vehicles altogether.