From owner-freebsd-isp Wed Feb 21 8:22: 3 2001 Delivered-To: freebsd-isp@freebsd.org Received: from ra.upan.org (ra.upan.org [204.107.76.19]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F10AF37B698 for ; Wed, 21 Feb 2001 08:21:58 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from mikel@ocsinternet.com) Received: from ocsinternet.com (localhost.upan.org [127.0.0.1]) by ra.upan.org (8.11.1/8.11.1) with ESMTP id f1LGNLT26017; Wed, 21 Feb 2001 11:23:21 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from mikel@ocsinternet.com) Message-ID: <3A93EB78.C385038E@ocsinternet.com> Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 11:23:21 -0500 From: Mikel King Organization: OCS Internet X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.76 [en] (X11; U; FreeBSD 4.2-RELEASE i386) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Jim Sander Cc: freebsd-isp@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Redundancy... final(?) summary References: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-freebsd-isp@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Jim, I'm curious have you looked into solar? cheers, mikel Jim Sander wrote: > > much ado about fuel-cell technology > > It seems that my question has been answered with a silent "no." Nobody > seems to have any real experience with commercially available fuel-cell > technology products, at least in a format that is appropriate for my > situation. A 125KW system is a bit much for a handful of servers! :) I > guess this is simply wanting what doesn't (yet) exist- in another year > perhaps things will be different. > > Some good FAQS to start with... > http://www.fuelcells.org/ > > Everything I got through other sources can also be accessed from there. > > > comments about safety, etc. > > CO2 emissions still need to be vented to the atmosphere, unless you are > into suffocation. Even though H2 fuel-cells produce only H2O and heat, the > conversion of LPG or propane to H2 usually results in some CO2 and other > "trace" HC emissions- whether this ends up being significant is dependent > upon the situation. (in most cases I suspect it is, but I'm no expert) > > About the Hindenburg reference... modern research about the disaster > points away from H2 being the cause. Just FYI of course- > http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/flash/hindenburg_script.html > > Anything flammable is dangerous if you store or use it incorrectly. > When storing any fuel, you need to address safety. Local laws may regulate > what you can legally do at your location, regardless of what is really > safe. Lighter or heaver than air gases will only affect whether the room > fills from the top down or the bottom up. (gulp!) > > > practicality and cost > > Fuel-cells are, and for the foreseeable future will continue to be, > relatively expensive. An equivalent amount of energy from internal > combustion sources will cost significantly less. That may change as > technology improves and is mass produced, so eventually the fuel-cell's > advantages will outweigh its increased cost. > > Personally, I'd pay more for clean power without a lot of complaint, > assuming fuel-cells don't have "hidden" environmental impact. (probably a > false assumption) I also would be more comfortable storing propane, CNG, > or even H2 than I would compared to gasoline or even the less volatile > diesel. My gas grill seems a lot safer than my lawn mower, even if it's > really not- I think the parallel holds between generator and a fuel cell. > > -=Jim=- > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-isp" in the body of the message To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-isp" in the body of the message