[cynwoody]

Solar power will never be adequate to displace fossil fuels because of the basic physics involved. At noon on a sunny day in mid-summer the sun delivers 1300 watts per square metre and the best available solar panels only deliver 18% of that.

Redox Power Systems is a Maryland startup which claims to have a new fuel cell technology that is one tenth the cost and one tenth the size of current fuel cells and runs at 80% efficiency when used for both heat and power. Their first product is a 25kw unit the size of a dish washer.

Fuel cells run on fossil fuels, e.g., natural gas. If Redox's systems work as advertised, the power companies will be in trouble, regardless of the performance of solar and wind.

[Squawk 8888]

That does look like a game-changer, especially if it can beat the efficiency of thermal systems. If they can reduce the size & weight to get a 75kW or bigger unit into a car, then the ICE would be obsolete.