Fayetteville's Jim
Gollins has the answer to all of America's energy needs, as well as the
wallet-busting prices at the gas pumps — an
answer that flows not from an oil well, but from perhaps the most
unlikely of places: a faucet.
Gollins says that
he, and many other like-minded folks in America and across the globe, have
learned a secret that the U.S. government and Big Oil doesn't want you to know:
You can make cheap, plentiful, nonpolluting energy from water.
Actually it's what
Gollins says is distilled from the water that provides the fuel: hydrogen.
"I believe
hydrogen is the fuel of the future," said Gollins. "You will eventually
run your car on it; you will power your house with it; you will power your
lawnmower with it. Each quart of water contains enough hydrogen gas to fill the
Pittsburgh Steelers' football stadium two times."
{mosimage}And Gollins says he
can show anyone, even those not gifted in mechanics, how to build and install a
hydrogen fuel converter in their vehicles that this, along with other measures,
can increase gas mileage by more than 50 percent. He says he knows because he's
already installed one in his own vehicles. He claims that since he installed
one of the homemade devices on his Ford Ranger pickup, his gas mileage has
improved from 14 miles per gallon to 26 mpg. And on July 12, he's going to hold
a free seminar at the Ruritan Club on Campground Road to show how it's done.
He says the
apparatus, in addition to running on that most basic of elements, H2O, requires
a small electrical current (such as provided by a car battery) and one other
ingredient — a substance found in just about every family's cupboard.
"Believe it or
not, it's common baking soda," said Gollins. "The way to extract it
(the hydrogen) is to disturb the molecules. You take distilled water and add
baking soda — an eighth of a teaspoon per quart of water — and it allows the
water molecules to be disrupted much more easily.
"By putting a
negative and positive charge in the water, you disrupt the molecules and the
resulting action from that is HHO (hydrogen oxygen). That gas, siphoned off and
injected into the intake of any modern vehicle, will burn and mix in with your fossil fuels."
He demonstrated the
process by igniting hydrogen gas produced by his small, homemade fuel cell — it
went off with a loud "pop — and opening the hood of his smoothly running
Ranger, which indeed sported a strange looking contraption connected to his
engine that contained a jar full of agitated water.
{mosimage}Gollins says a
simple fuel cell can be built for about $10, while a system for your car will
be a little more, but nowhere near the $1,600 or so online merchants are asking
for such devices. He also says the device will not harm your vehicle and that
the emission from the exhaust system is 100 percent water vapor. He even says
that after about 30 days of using HHO, your car engine will be "scrubbed
clean" by the nonpolluting water vapor, which runs so hot it destroys all
other emissions.
According to
Gollins, a few of your engine's parts, such as the oxygen sensor, need to be
modified to make the project work, though he says it's something even the most
mechanically disinclined can do with proper training. However, he says using
the hydrogen cell alone will not give you all you need to get maximum gas
mileage; Gollins adds that in addition to the hydrogen cell, you must do common
sense maintenance on your car, such as checking the tire pressure, changing the
air filter and driving correctly — no "stop and go" driving.
Gollins says the
truth about the ease with which water can be converted to hydrogen has been
suppressed by the government for economic reasons.
"The
government believes that if this nation converted to hydrogen fuel, all the
industries related to petroleum products would go bankrupt and destroy the
economy," said Gollins. "And if you think about it would destroy oil
companies and put the people out of work at these refineries and at gas
stations ... anyone who gets his livelihood from oil-based products, which is a
lot of people."
Converting water
into hydrogen is not a new idea. The process is called electrolysis and has
been known to scientists for 200 years. However, the practice of converting
hydrogen on a large enough scale to power this nation's automobiles is
discredited by many — particularly oil companies and government.
Jerry Ittenbach, a
physical science instructor at Fayetteville Technical Community College says
"theoretically," Gollins' ideas about mixing hydrogen with petroleum
as a fuel additive is possible.
"However, I'm
not an expert on engines, so I don't know how everything would react inside the
engine," said Ittenbach. "What most people mean when they talk about
using hydrogen as fuel is to build these huge, expensive cells that create
electricity from hydrogen. Honda recently advertised such a vehicle, but it's very
expensive."
Gollins adds that
hydrogen-powered vehicles, such as Honda's FCX Clarity, are very expensive to
operate and there is a lack of hydrogen fuel stations to power them — none in
North Carolina and just 38 in the entire nation.
"Also,
remember, hydrogen is very volatile, it's what powered the Hindenburg,"
said Gollins. "If you have an accident at a hydrogen filling station,
you're not going to have a fire, you're going to have a crater. That's why I
don't recommend anyone attempting to modify their vehicle without getting the
proper instruction."
Gollins will
provide some of that know-how on July 12, at the Ruritan Club from 8 a.m. to
noon. He'll give a demonstration and answer questions.
And the water will
be free.
Hydrogen Bomb: Making Fuel From Water
- Details