Wired is reporting that an entrepreneur from Tallahassee, Florida Mark Miller has created a small internal combustion engine that runs on hydrogen and electricity. The hydrogen is created on-demand from calcium hydride and water (or spit), which fuels the small motor.

The motor is rated at 6.4 horsepower in hydrogen mode and 3.1 horsepower in reciprocating electrical mode. It has a small three-phase alternator that helps to recharge the batteries.

A note of a caution is in order here for all would be inventors. Calcium hydride reacts violently with water plus some other alcohols and acids. It may also create a very caustic power, calcium hydroxide.

Mark Miller expects to scale his engine up within the next year. It’s good to see yet another entrepreneur at the grass roots level step up to the plate to help move the hydrogen economy forward. This kind of engine ingenuity will most assuredly be necessary in order for the hydrogen transportation system to become mainstreamed.

Filed under: Entrepreneurs