ON FRACTIONAL HYDROGEN, HEAVY-ION FUSION AND THE FUTURE OF HAWAII

Yesterday, The Huffington Post published my article on “The Future of Sustainable Aviation.” Mark Goldes, co-founder of Chava Energy commented, and mentioned a concept called fractional hydrogen. I need to know more about what this is all about. (The comments to fractional hydrogen in this HuffPo article seem to discredit the possibility of this concept, but we'll give the proponents time to surprise the knowledgeable community.)

One of the comments to the above HuffPo was from what appeared to be a die-hard doomsdayer, who indicated that hydrogen will only use more energy than it produces. He kind of misses the point, but I did cite my discussion yesterday with Charles Helsley, who is president of a heavy-ion fusion company. Should Chuck prevail, there will be sufficient methanol for the direct methanol fuel cell and hydrogen for the National Aerospace Plane. While he said in less than a decade, I suspect that, if his effort succeeds, large scale commercialization will occur long after I move on to eternal gloom.

But Chuck, at least, is doing something about the looming crush of Peak Oil and Global Warming. Interested in what you and our decision-makers can do? Please go to my blog of July 21, where I express dismay at our inability to work together for the common good. For Hawaii, we must start now to minimize the looming depression that will overwhelm us when tourists stop coming to Hawaii because of $200/barrel oil.

But even if Chuck does produce cost-effective hydrogen in a quarter century, where is the plane that will use it? Well, just ask Rinaldo Brutoco and his Hawaii Hydrogen Clipper. There is always hope. Who knows, oil might drop to $50/barrel and stay there for another century. Sure! I predict, though, that Hawaii will be terrific place to live at the next turn of the century.

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Wow, there are now six storms in the East Pacific. One, Hurricane Jimena, just popped out south of Mexico and is expected to attain Category 4 status as early as Monday. She is headed, though, sufficiently north northwest such that Baha might feel the brunt. In the West Pacific Tropical Storm Krovanh, currently at 65 MPH, will become a typhoon on Sunday, and is confusing trackers, as one group has it bearing straight over Tokyo, and a second sees the fury heading towards northern Honshu, but turning north and east before actually making landfall. In the Atlantic, Tropical Depression Danny is only bringing rain and swells to the Eastern Seaboard, not unlike Bill. Yet another disturbance, a week behind in the Atlantic, is seeming to follow the trail of Danny and Bill.

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