End of the Road for Oil (2) comments
By Francis Onwumere | Saturday, July 5 2008 | Energy
  
 Dear Sir,
Thank you for your email and taking interest in our technology WES...
First of all we are not car manufacturer. We have invented fuel cell which produces electricity and heat from water and no outside energy whatsoever.
Our press conference will be scheduled after we have materials to proof our technology.Genepax priority today is to take data, produce commercial products, and negotiate with cooperative company in Japan and of course abroad.
Our mission is not profit but to quickly distribute our technology WES to face environmental issues.
We will announce any new movement made by Genepax on our website.
Thank you for understanding Genepax.
For a long time, I sat motionless; I couldn't take my eyes off the email you just read. All the possibilities and consequences of this new technology became all of a sudden apparent. This is a technology that will change the world. Everything is about to change. Market shares will fall, roles will change; the big players and the others that have been looked down upon, Nigeria and OPEC is going to suffer.
The Japanese company, Genepax unveiled the car in the western city of Osaka on Thursday, Jun 12, saying that a litre (2.1 pints) of any kind of water -- rain, river, sea or even tea-- was enough to run the engine going for about an hour at a speed of 80 km (50 miles).
"The car will continue to run as long as you have a bottle of water to top up from time to time," Genepax CEO Kiyoshi Hirasawa told local broadcaster TV Tokyo. "It does not require you to build up an infrastructure to recharge your batteries, which is usually the case for most electric cars," he added.
Researchers have long been investigating the use of fuel cells, especially the Hydrogen Fuel Cell variant, as a viable alternative to fossil fuels due to its high efficiency in fuel to energy conversion. Fuel Cells flout a potential 80% conversion efficiency and 64% efficiency in Vehicles. Compare this to your petrol gulping engine which has roughly 20%. This is because Fuel cells are not constrained by the maximum Carnot cycle efficiency as combustion engines are, because they do not operate with a thermal cycle. Fuel Cells are also environmentally savvy, as their main emission is unbelievably Water and drinkable too.
Basically, a fuel cell works by separating the component electrons and protons of the reactant fuel, and forcing the electrons to travel though a circuit, hence  converting them to electrical power. Another catalytic process takes the electrons back in, combining them with the protons and the oxidant to form waste products (typically simple compounds like water).
Adopting this technology has not been easy, due to its cost implications. However special focus has been given over the years to a Hydrogen Fuel Cell technology known as PEMFC (proton exchange membrane fuel cell); as scientists believed that they could significantly reduce the cost involved in the design of PEMFC's. The Water powered car developed by Genepax uses a PMFC. It’s however different in that it consumes water, a generator separates the water into its constituents and uses it to generate electrical power. Funnily other attempts by big automakers emit and not consume water.
The World holds its breath and watches as Genepax starts the process to commercialize their technology. Genepax said it had just applied for a patent and is hoping to collaborate with Japanese auto manufacturers in the future.
Where does this leave a country like Nigeria, solely dependent on its oil?
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