[rktman]

I thought walmart carried hydrogen from local wells. There aren't any hydrogen wells? WTH? The greenies keep talking about hydrogen cell cars. We musta been lied to. Again. All I know is we used to use a whole bunch of LH2 launching the shuttle for 30 years. :>} Good times.

[dila813]

I actually had a greenie say we should put windmills on cars to power them.

I seen you guys joke about this on the forum, but I thought it was hyperbole only.

Boy are these global warming alarmist’s dumb.

[TexasGator]

Somebody at American Thinker chose to be lazy ...

[thackney]

After NASA, the largest user of Hydrogen is the US refining industry. Hydrogen is used to meet the EPA ultra-low sulfur fuel requirements.

[FroggyTheGremlim]

My dream is that within 100 years we will be advanced enough to extract some of the geothermal energy contained in the enormous magma chamber underneath Yellowstone.

Use that to "make" Hydrogen from water.

As a bonus, we may get to keep the monster from erupting?

[from occupied ga]

Hydrogen: the net-negative energy option

Along with ethanol another net negative energy option.

[SpaceBar]

I was expecting an article frought with scientific inconsistancies and urban chemistry myths. Yet the author’s premise is correct in that hydrogen, although yes it can store energy etc in principle, is difficult to handle safely for mass distribution for a variety of reasons, and isn’t the magic bullet of energy storage mediums that it is often touted to be.

[gingerbread]

I remember when a very “SMART” individual in the early 1900’s said; “EVERYTHING THAT CAN BE INVENTED, HAS ALREADY BEEN INVENTED”. In my opinion, at some time in the future, there will be a manor a woman, will invent, in his or her garage, a machine that will run on hydrogen. He or she will figure out a way to make it cheaply. I will remind everyone, that in the recent past (100+ years or so) aluminum was more expensive than silver, because there was no way to extract aluminum cheaply. I will also remind everyone, that a man, in his garage, invented a method to extract this metal very cheap. The rest is history

[RayChuang88]

While hydrogen sounds like a great fuel source, don't forget the following:

1. If there's any need to make liquid hydrogen, that cryogenic liquid is very hard to keep cold and is EXTREMELY dangerous to handle (that's why if a rocket fueled with liquid hydrogen explodes it goes off with the force of a tactical nuclear warhead).

2. Unfortunately, water vapor from hydrogen in a fuel cell automobile is a VASTLY more reactive greenhouse gas than even carbon dioxide.

I think I'll wait for the liquid fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR) so we can generate enough electricity on a gigantic scale to make burning any hydrocarbon fuel effectively obsolete.

[Boogieman]

“It is thus not a source of energy. It is merely a storehouse for energy – a battery.”

Technically, nothing is a source of energy, since energy can never be created or destroyed.

[BitWielder1]

Moreover, electric cars do not reduce the oxygen content of city air – every tonne of hydrogen fuel consumes eight tonnes of oxygen to produce nine tonnes of water vapor. So instead of urban smog, we may get urban fog.

True but a BS argument still, present day combustion engines already consume oxygen and generate water vapor.
Hydrogen fuel merely gets rid of the CO₂ in your exhaust not the CO₂ generated elsewhere in preparing the hydrogen for you. Same problem for electric cars.
Yes, pure hydrogen is expensive to extract, contain and transport. And very flammable.
You can actually look at the carbon in gas as a way to bind hydrogen and make handling it a lot safer.

Sadly, this whole debate is driven by the notion that CO₂, which occurs naturally, is bad when humans make it.

[IC Ken]

Only a few gasses as dangerous as Hydrogen Group B. It can catch fire (almost invisible flame) with little 3 % or a lot of Oxygen (as high as 97%). Consider methane will only ignite from 5 - 15%.

[JoeFromSidney]

The best way to store hydrogen is to bond it with carbon. The result is liquid at room temperature, much denser than liquid hydrogen, and is easily transported.

[cicero2k]

H2 as rocket fuel days may be limited.

Elon Musk and others are working on a liquified natural gas motor that will make the parts reusable rather than throw away since CH3 liquifies at much higher temperature. As a fuel, somewhat less specific impulse but not enough to offset the savings.