RTF:
Hydrogen power will make us Independant of foreign energy source (assuming, you know, that it works and all.)
The President was not lying. Us energy geeks understand that you have to walk before you run, and it will be a transitionary thing.
Our hydrogen will come fromt he densest and most exploitable source. That will be natural of which the US has the largest supply in the world IIRC. We can also get it from oil, coal, nuclear, solar, and tidal power pulling it from water, etc.
Since we are looking at three times the efficiency we are looking at only 1/3 the fuel needed.
Then too, there are a few other reasons for the transitionary nature of this endeavor.
Hydrogen is dangerous crap. Essentially a hydrogen powered with it’s huge tank of compressed hydrogen would be like driving around in your own private Hindenburgh. You see the problem?
There are a couple of ideas on how to solve this. The first is a metal hydride storage system which basically stores the hydrogen in huge quantities in inert, unpressurized and easily retrievable form. This may or may not work.
The second is not having a tank of hydrogen at all. What you do is you have a tank of gasoline or some other hydrocarbon. Then what you do is reform it onboard as you need hydrogen. No dangerous storage, plus you can fill up at any existing gas station!
Hopefully you see the advantage. If it ended just there, it would be a huge advance in efficiency and pollution control. It doesn’t. Obviously, since hydrogen is available in a variety of ways from a variety of sources the dependance on fossil fuels is not built into the technology.
However, when creating this technology, the transition becomes smoother and more effective if existing infrastructure can be implemented.
So, there is nothing wrong with using fossil fuels for fuel cells. In fact, it is a positive, a bonus as it helps make the transition feasible and compatible with current infrastructure.
The efficiency of the setup, and the flexible hydrogen sources do help make us independant from foreign energy sources.
We have to walk before we run though.
I know you’d like to see us go from the Wright Brothers straight to a 747, but there’s a lot of ground to be covered in the middle.
Hopefully you understand now.