Are Fuel Prices Pissing You Off?

You may hope that they are.

If you think the oil cartels have us over a barrel, than you may be pleased to hear that the universe's most abundant element, hydrogen, is a good candidate for renewable energy.

The only issue appears to be storage, as it requires a high pressure-low temperature environment that makes it difficult to manage. That, and unbinding it from paired elements used to stabilize it comes with significant secondary energy costs.

But with a recent announcement by Ohio University professor Gerardine Botte, urine may be coming to the rescue. She sees the liquid as a solution thanks to the particular composition of its major component, urea. Its make-up, a 2-to-1 ratio of hydrogen and nitrogen, is convenient because hydrogen can be extracted from nitrogen using much less electricity than that needed to, say, pull apart hydrogen and oxygen. (It’s a matter of 0.037 Volts versus 1.23 Volts, if you really need to know.)

With cars powered by hydrogen extracted from urine, our culture would see a dramatic shift in priorities. Service stations would start maintaining comfortable and clean restrooms again in an effort to capture the now golden fuel. Drinking and driving might even become America's favorite pastime again.

I'm all for it.

But I will miss "putting a tiger in my tank".