The Hydrogen Economy

A breakthrough from the people who can't remember past He on the periodic table

There is a good article over at hydrogenpowernews questioning the idea that Hydrogen is obviously the fuel of the future. He's got a link that's presently broken to fuelcelltoday. From hydrogenpowernews

Hydrogen incentives have the earmarks of supporting a technology that was chosen as the winner before all of the factors were examined or were simply ignored. Fuel cell cars exist now at astronomical prices which keep the hope alive and advocates cheering but you have to conciously avoid looking at technologies already in place and gaining ground that could dramatically improve our energy outlook to continue asking for more government expenditures in this area.

A more detailed argument is made by Ulf Bossel, Ph.D. in (pdf warning) Does a Hydrogen Economy Make Sense?. From Bossel

Unfortunately, politics seems to listen to the advice of visionaries [1], lobby groups and environmental activists, all presenting qualitative arguments, but hardly ever based their arguments on facts and laws of physics. A secure sustainable energy future cannot be based on shaky arguments, hype and political activism, but has to be built on solid grounds of established science.

The visionary Bossel refers to is Jeremy Rifkin.