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April 4, 2008
First battery-powered aircraft gives lift-off to hopes of greener flight
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Why don't they use a simple dynamo to charge the battery as the vehicle is being driven. This will be the most simplest and cleanest of answers to using extra power from the power grid. They have been used for years on bicycles why not on cars ?
Jonathan Hayes, London, England
It should be mentioned that water vapor is a greenhouse gas, though not as potent or as well studied as carbon dioxide. If we are to substitute carbon based fuels for hydrogen (through an as yet unknown, "clean" means of isolating hydrogen atoms), human induced additions to humidity could be significant.
Increasing the amount of water stored in the air could both contribute to the greenhouse effect and reduce the amount of UV and light energy reaching the Earth's surface, which in turn would reduce the supply of energy available to plants as well as solar energy devices. These potential problems with a hydrogen based energy economy should not be ignored -- as they are in this and nearly every article about theoretical benefits of hydrogen energy devices.
Rune, Corvallis, Oregon, USA
It's not the first battery powered plane to fly. A French one flew last December, as your Paris correspondent reported at the time.
Jorg Andersen, Vienna, Austria
"for power in the air"? Does this mean it used something else to take off?
We keep hearing that hydrogen is a clean and renewable energy source and that it only produces water vapour. This is pure nonsense.
Until you can explain how you're going to obtain the hydrogen in the first place and how you're going to power that process (electrolysis powered by carbon fuels?) it isn't renewable!
Jon, Winchester,
There is probably a Bigger Market for this Engine in Small Boats than in Small Planes. It would make boats far safer, quieter, and reduce both water and air pollution.
George R. Costich, Cape May, NJ
How long until the govenments start running low on tax revenue and descide that Hydrogen fuel cells contribute to gloabal warming, and tax them to the hilt?
Paul, Camberley,