That is, the hydrogen in the hydrogen economy wouldn't be a resource even if it were useful.
And how do you measure what is a resource and what isn't? You can not measure it simply on BTU's or ergs or kilowatt-hours, because a BTU is worth far more where it is needed than where it is in abundance. If BTU's were directly comparable, then the South West deserts would be enormously wealthy, because they receive vast numbers of BTU's in the form of sunshine.
The way to compare and measure the resources is with monetary units such as dollars. That is the beauty and the major advantage of capitalism and the market economy. It is a way of informing us of what is valuable and what is not.
Trying to figure out whether or not something is worth doing by comparing BTU's is the quintessential vanity of the central planners, and that is one of the major reasons empires failed in the end, most obviously the Soviets, as the latest example.