Experts at the McGill University have disclosed that metal
powders, produced using clean primary energy sources, could provide a more
viable long-term replacement for fossil fuels than other widely discussed
alternatives, such as hydrogen, biofuels or batteries, reports NaijaAgroNet.
A study in the December 15 issue of the journal Applied
Energy made available to NaijaAgroNet showed that technologies to generate
clean electricity, primarily solar and wind power are being developed rapidly.
Lead author of the new study by McGill University, Professor
Jeffrey Bergthorson, pointed out that at present, people could not use
electricity for many of the things that oil and gas are used for today, such as
transportation and global energy trade.
“Biofuels can be part of the solution, but won’t be able to
satisfy all the demand; hydrogen requires big, heavy fuel tanks and is
explosive, and batteries are too bulky and don’t store enough energy for many
applications,” Bergthorson, who is a mechanical engineering professor and
Associate Director of the Trottier Institute for Sustainability in Engineering
and Design at McGill said.
“Using metal powders as recyclable fuels that store clean
primary energy for later use is a very promising alternative solution,” he said.
Isaac Oyimah/GEE
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