Green Daily

The issue is not about cars or fuel cells so much as hydrogen. Companies already have kits that would allow an internal combustion engine to run on Hydrogen. The issue is hydrogen is just not easily available as a fuel. The best current practice is to extract hydrogen from fossil fuels. Certainly this is better than the current model as carbon can then be easily sequestered instead of spit out a tail pipe, but it is still not a total answer to the problem. Hydrogen should be viewed as a fuel delivery system rather than a fuel itself, more akin to power lines than the actual power.

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Why does the headline say, "Are hydrogen cars the answer?" The rest of the aritcle has next to nothing to do with that.

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You do realize that water vapor is by far the largest component of "greenhouse" gas in the atmosphere, right? So it is debatable that it would reduce greenhouse gas, although a reduction on the dependence on oil would be great.

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Check out the following articles, Hydrogen busses have been in operation in iceland and other countries for a few years now. And Hydrogen can hardly be a viable alternative to fossil fuels unless you have a clean method of creating the Hydrogen, or more importantly the energy needed to create hydrogen.

http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSL28874720071128

http://www.reuters.com/article/inPlayBriefing/idUSIN20070719060405WIRES20070719

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ok for all those posters saying hydrogen is difficult to produce, that's rubbish, run an electric current through water and it separates hydrogen from oxygen, this makes the production of hydrogen a closed system, electricity produces hydrogen -> hydrogen powers electricity production, as long as there is water hydrogen manufacturing is easy The real problem, and the reason there is money in this, is the ability to contain and store for a serious length of time the hydrogen produced, the reason the fuel cell hasn't been widely manufactured thus far is because it can only store small amounts of hydrogen and it leaks over time. Now this article talks about GM who are about as far behind in the field as you can get, take the Japanese, Honda in particular, they have the car, the cell and the manufacturing in place, in fact at the LA Car Show they showed off the FCX with improved capability and that its ready for mass production but where will people fill up? That's the question that needs answering, its easy to store petrol and diesel not so with hydrogen.

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The comments here are more informative than the blog post. This sites ought to hire the commentators and fire the author. Sheesh.

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Actually the method/Device that Honda uses to produce hydrogen is powered by a small solar panel. So the only negatives in terms of the greenhouse with a product like this are, one the carbon emitted in getting the water to the station (relatively small), and that this product takes some time before it can completely re-fill your cars tank (but since as the green automotive industry is still pre-infancy you could assume that any problems will be worked out soon, just need to get behind a good product).

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Yes, H2 is an energy carrier. Just like electricity, which requires more energy to produce than what you use. Nobody is saying 'don't make electricity'. Beyond that H2 production using nanoscale designed catalysts and biological energy means (e.g. bacteria that breathe out H2) is a way forward. The future of vehicle propulsion systems is the wheel based electric motor. Powering that motor is the real question. The likely outcome is a combination of batteries, fuel cells and capacitors. Batteries alone cannot serve the primary role. H2 can be stored as a solid and sold over retail shelves in 'blocks' - or we can produce it in our homes using appliances that convert natural gas or water. I do believe in H2 fuel cells are part of the strategy. It doesn't save the world - but it fills a huge hole in propulsion systems that batteries alone cannot meet. www.garrygolden.net

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No, hydrogen cars are not the answer!!! All I keep hearing is 10 years, 10 years we are only 10 years away from hydrogen fuel cell cars. No more 10 years!!!! We have the technology right now to make electric cars with a 300 mile radius. People want them and auto makers refuse to mass produce them. Every night you could plug your electric car into your home solar system that you got for under 10 grand with a coupon from http://www.SolarCoupons.com.

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Here are a few questions.
1) What happens in desert locations when we start pumping high levels of water vapor into the air. Anyone who has lived in the desert knows that flash floods and land slides go hand-in-hand with any significant rain.

2) What happens when we start competing with our means of transportation for the basic necessities of life (food/water)? Bio-diesel is made from corn, which is grown on land that could be used for food production. Hydrogen is made from water, in most major metropolitan areas water for people has to be purchased and brought in. "Water rights" are a hot topic in any place the human population has accumulated.

3) What happens to all of that water we put up in the atmosphere? Conventional wisdom says what goes up must come down. Where and how will this happen.

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Is this going to be another GM facade?? If you dont know what I'm talking about then please watch the highly acclaimed documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?"
Rated 89% on RottenTomatoes and 7.7 on IMDB.

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