Hydrogen economy
From RationalWiki
The hydrogen economy is a theoretical future societal model where the power for vehicles and other portable machinery is provided by the combustion of hydrogen. Burning hydrogen produces only pure water as a waste product, so this is theoretically a better bet than burning fossil fuels as a power source. The Bush government is a big supporter of the hydrogen economy as an alternative to, and a distraction from, doing anything about Global Warming. [1]
The problem is that hydrogen isn't actually a power source. Energy must be expended to generate hydrogen, which means there is still the problem of where to get this energy. This means, without development of clean energy sources, the hydrogen economy has little or no benefit over the current fossil fuel economy. Hydrogen, being highly volatile, also creates problems of storage and safety. However, hydrogen does have an energy density approximately 200 times greater than the most efficient current battery technologies.
In November 2007 researchers proposed producing hydrogen directly from cellulose or other biodegradable organic materials, as this is claimed to be much more efficient. [2]
