The Economist.  Dirt cheap organic solar cells about to take off.  This is one more step towards a hydrogen economy.  Excess energy from solar cells on the roof of a home could be stored as hydrogen through simple electrolysis (as an adjunct to hydrogen extraction from natural gas).  This eliminates the need for expensive and bulky batteries.  Additionally, this hydrogen could then be used to power power-plant fuel cells for use in the home or cars.  Refuel your car at home!  Good-bye OPEC.  Hello decentralized energy. [John Robb's Radio Weblog]

Given that there are home power generation systems out there that run on either hydrogen or propane, Imagine if you used captured rainwater and or greywater. Now you have a constant supply of power, locally generated, and hopefully fairly easy to maintain. Again, do this in a rural area for a small co-op and you've got local power, off the grid. Either vent or bottle the leftover O2.

The trick to this is building cheap, reliable systems that are small enough to be easily transported, and reliable enough to handle harsh environments. Let's forget about the home for a moment. Imagine being able to fly in a town center wherever you wanted it. Power generation, communications, a health care center, mess hall, etc. Now instead of going to war, drop these units in place and use them as central distribution points for food and medical care. Have servers set up to show people how to recognize mines and other ordinance that is left behind, how to care for injuries, and who to contact for help in removing the ordinance.

That would generate some serious good will.

12:50:54 PM