Hydrogen my friends. It is the hydrogen atom, as it breaks its bond from a molecule, that releases energy. Humanity is blessed with an abundant supply of this wonderful gift that has lifted man from a stone hammer to an atomic particle accelerator. To economically and efficiently store, transport and use hydrogen we can ask for no better a medium than the lowly hydrocarbon molecule. Albert Einstein pointed out that Hydrogen is one of the two most abundant things in the universe. The other is well documented by some of the discussions in this thread.
Hydrogen is the building block for just about everything in the world. Guess it was designed (can I say - by God) to be that way.
It is the purest form of energy (EVER) devised and we have an ocean full of the stuff.