*I'm getting tired of the blaring miraculousness of all these miracle energy solutions.
As planetary distress mounts steadily, they're starting to seem like cruel hoaxes.
*On the other hand, if you could hook one of these newfangled zinc-oxide gizmos to
the endless demented screaming of denialists and produce pure hydrogen,
hey, who couldn't like that.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18661-crystals–sound–water–clean-hydrogen-fuel.html
Crystals + sound + water = clean hydrogen fuel
12:41 16 March 2010 by Phil McKenna
Every drop of water is stuffed with the greenest of fuels, hydrogen, but getting it out is a challenge. A new material raises the prospect of doing so using noise pollution – from major roads, for example.
A team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison made crystals of zinc oxide that, when immersed in water, absorb vibrations and develop areas of strong negative and positive charge. These charges rip apart nearby water molecules, releasing hydrogen and oxygen gas.
"This is like a free lunch," says lead researcher Huifang Xu. "You are getting energy from the environment just like solar cells capture energy from the sun."
Xu and colleagues generate hydrogen using a new variation on piezoelectric crystals – materials that generate a voltage when strained and which are being investigated as a way to generate electricity from movement....
