I think I left it in the Prius with my jetpack ...
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026841.900-whatever-happened-to-the-hydrogen-economy.html?page=1">Whatever happened to the hydrogen economy?WHATEVER happened to the hydrogen economy? At the turn of the century it was the next big thing, promising a future of infinite clean energy and deliverance from climate change. Generate enough hydrogen, so the claim went, and we could use it to transform the entire energy infrastructure - it could supply power for cars, planes and boats, buildings and even portable gadgets, all without the need for dirty fossil fuels. Enthusiasts confidently predicted the breakthrough was just five to 10 years away. But today, despite ever-worsening news on global warming and with peak oil looming, the hydrogen economy seems as distant as ever.
Even in Iceland, whose grand ambitions for a renewable hydrogen economy once earned it the title Bahrain of the north, visible progress has been modest. After years of research, the country now boasts one hydrogen filling station, a handful of hydrogen cars, and one whale-watching boat with a fuel cell for auxiliary power. A trial of three hydrogen-powered buses ended in 2007, when two were scrapped and the third was consigned to a transport museum. More trials are planned, but that was before the meltdown of the country's banking system.
In California, where governor Arnold Schwarzenegger promised a "hydrogen highway" with 200 hydrogen filling stations by 2010, there are just five open to the public. Ten hydrogen-fuelled buses are due to come into service in London by 2010, but a plan for 60 smaller hydrogen vehicles was recently scrapped.
Despite the setbacks, there is still enormous effort going into hydrogen research. "Fuel cells have been a roller coaster of hype and disillusionment," says Martin Green of Johnson Matthey, which makes fuel-cell components for the car industry, "but I am more confident now that the hydrogen economy is going to happen than ever before."
Real products are now inching closer to market (see map). Honda claims to be the first company with a fuel-cell car, the FCX Clarity, in large-scale production. The company will make just 200 of these cars over three years, leasing them to customers for $600 per month, but so far Honda has shifted only three. Meanwhile General Motors (GM) has released the first 100 of its Equinox fuel-cell cars in a free trial for potential customers around the world. The company claims to have spent more than $1.2 billion on hydrogen R&D, and its research boss, Larry Burns, believes a market for fuel-cell vehicles will have emerged by 2014. So could hydrogen finally be ready for take-off, or will the mirage continue to recede?
Enthusiasts claim the remaining hurdles are not so much technical as financial, and that mass production will bring costs down dramatically. But so far the fuel cell, which lies at the heart of the entire hydrogen project (see "Hydrogen basics"), has remained stubbornly expensive - and bringing the cost down means changing the technology.
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(the font effects are mine) This isn't exactly an easy-reading MSM article that Takes A Firm Stand and then backs it up with pudding. Several factors
pro and
contra are discussed -- but
New Scientist does tend to be a little more
scientific than the MSM.
My personal take? I think that The Big Breakthrough in energy storage won't be found in the current generation of hydrogen fuel cells, but it's still an avenue worth pursuing. What's needed is truly large-scale (and/or energy-dense) storage capability. That may take a few more years.
--p!