The 8008 1754

The old generators had magnetic polarity. They had to be "polarized" with a big current surge to make sure they generated the correct polarity.

I guess there really isn't much point in trying to include a permanent magnet in an automotive alternator. First of all, it would probably be demagnetized by the intense fluctuating fields.

Secondly, the engine has to be running to drive the alternator, so something has to be able to start the engine.

On the subject of automotive electricals, there's a significant degree of concern among emergency responders about the new "hybrid" cars due to the risk of electrocution from the powerful electrical batteries when trying to extricate victims from a wreck.

Finally, one thing that really bugs me is the seemingly common notion that we can somehow extract all this hydrogen from the ocean and make limitless energy from it.

With respect to cars, hydrogen is an extremely inefficient way to distribute energy. Thus, the notion of hydrogen fuel cell cars is probably silly in terms of practicality. Electricity is vastly more efficient to distribute than hydrogen, so energy from solar arrays would likely be better used directly as electricity than wasted to produce hydrogen fuel.

The other problem which is rarely discussed intelligently is that it takes far more energy to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen than one gets by "burning" hydrogen to make water, even in a highly efficient fuel cell. This is a consequence of thermodynamics, the same reason you can't have a perpetual motion machine.

The other hydrogen power issue is the naive notion that we can create mbuttive amounts of "clean" energy through hydrogen fusion. Hydrogen fusion creates mbuttive amounts of very highly energetic neutrons (secret to the high yields of thermonuclear weapons). The problem is that these neutrons degrade the structural integrity of materials, so any fusion reactor is pretty much going to eat itself alive in short order. The same problem is observed in solid moderator nuclear fission reactors, but at a much slower rate since the fission neutrons have much lower energy.

In addition, the neutron flux from a thermonuclear reactor makes everything exposed to it highly radioactive. So, the reactor components become the radioactive waste.

Short of somehow colonizing other planets, buttuming we could create some efficient means of long distance space travel using currently unknown means, there is no way we will be able to sustain the burgeoning human population on this planet. The energy problem is insoluble in the long term.