Hi Guys

First... about ZEC...

Wow! And I thought coal was smelly, particulate ridden 18th Century technology. What a cool system!

I hope they really go far with ZEC technologies because hydrogen made from coal will be a major fuel-cell reactant in the future.

Mind you coal is only a "short-term" solution. At double-efficiency we still only have about 1,200 years worth in the ground at current energy useage levels. A lot less if the whole world is to rise out of near-poverty as power demands rise at 6% per annum. Exponential growth eats things up in a hurry. By 2100 we will need solar and fusion to be big players in the power stakes.

In my home state, Queensland, we have about 200 years worth of oil-shale - for just Australia's needs. But that's only about 5 years of global need.

Adam

PS

MHD... involved using flowing liquid metals heated direct by a burner as a working fluid in a generator system [passed through a series of magnetic coils] instead of a solid dynamo attached to a turbine spun by a steam jet.

You can see why there would be a lot of development issues with such an idea, as the metals are harder to handle than water and steam. And many explode on contact with air when hot and under high pressure. An atomised spray of hot metal quickly becomes a hotter flaming jet.

I have similar issues with using lithium metal as the working fluid in fusion reactors. If the magnetic energy of a tokamak was suddenly released it would vaporise its lithium jacket [hundreds of tons worth] and create a massive Fuel-Air explosion.