There have been quite a few posts recently on the topic of the "hydrogen economy," and so far all I have seen are regurgitations of the same old tired F.U.D.
People have pointed out that hydrogen is not a fuel, it is an engery carrier, since energy must be used to "produce" it. Ok, yes, I agree, you do have to "produce" the hydrogen so technically it is an energy carrier, and not a fuel. But, so is gasoline! Where are these magical mystery gasoline pumps that are sucking gasoline straight up out of the ground? And where are these lakes of pure diesel fuel, ready for the "energy companies" to come along and ship it out by the barrel full?
The fact is that if you want to get technical about it and badmouth hydrogen as an energy carrier, you had better be just as quick to point out that short of wood and maybe coal, everything that we use on a large scale for our energy needs is an "enery carrier" rather than straight fuel. We pump oil out of the ground to make gasoline and diesel and kerosene and other "fuels". That takes a good amount of energy to do so! Where is this energy coming from, and is it being accounted for when people say, "In order to 'produce' hydrogen we have to use xAmount of energy per unit of hydrogen, so I hereby declare in the name of the Queen of Spainland that hydrogen is inefficient?" I have yet to see a single statistic that honestly compares hydrogen to fossil fuels, and that's just with getting the damn stuff [fossil fuels] out of the ground.
I've been putting the word "produce" in quotes when referring to hydrogen because it's misleading and very poor word choice. When you use solar or wind power to "produce" hydrogen from water, you're not actually producing the stuff, you're refining it from water. Here's a newsflash: gas and every other petroleum based "fuel" has to be refined, too! And guess what, THAT takes energy! And not only does it take energy, it also produces some very harmful byproducts that have to be properly contained and disposed of in order to have minimal impact on the environment.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=metal+hydride+storage
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=fullerene+hydride
There is some reading material. So far, all I've been reading on here are misguided comments and jabs at the dangers and inefficiencies of hydrogen storage as either its native gasseous form or as a liquid. I agree that driving around with a highly compressed fuel is more than a little nervewracking, but let's stop with the Wile E Coyote approach* and actually do some problem solving. Metal and carbon hydride storage is probably the most feasible and socially acceptable solution (at the moment) that we have for hydrogen storage and transportation. And speaking of safety, let's stop right here with the, "Hydrogen is dangerous! Did you ever see what happened to the Hindenburg?? That's proof enough for me!" bull. The Hindenburg went up in flames because the skin they used was basically coated in a thermite paint. The people who were burnt to death (and these victims paled in comparison to the number of victims who died by jumping or falling from that height) were burned by a combination of the airship's outter skin and the fuel oil that the ship was carrying. Hydrogen played little if any role in the incident, end of story.
Another trend I've noticed in these hydrogen "debunk" sessions is the lack of alternative solutions. Just what do you propose to use in lieu of hydrogen? Alcohol? Hey, that's fine by me, it does pollute though, so don't try and tout it as a clean fuel. You also need an awful lot of space and resources to grow the plants required, and then you still need to harvest said plants, and process that into useable alcohol.
A few other problems I have seen with several peoples' arguments have been the source of the hydrogen. "Hydrogen isn't clean, because it REQUIRES production from petroleum and natural gas! It's just another trick by the oil companies to make them rich!" No. Hydrogen does not HAVE to come from petroleum, or through steam reformation of natural gas. What is wrong with having a field of solar generators (be they solar panels or parabolic mirrors) generating electricity and electrolyzing water? The infrastructure isn't in place to do it? Then put it into place! There isn't enough information about it? THEN RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENT! How do you think we went from burning wood for fuel to pumping gas into an 8 cylinder SUV?
I'm not trying to come off as being confrontational, but for crying out loud, research this stuff just a little better and keep in mind who your sources are. If a BP Oil rep tells you that hydrogen just isn't feasible and that it's really Hype!rogen, you may want to take that information with a few salt shakers at hand.
* Ever notice on Road Runner cartoons how the coyote will try one plan, and some unrelated incident will cause that plan to fail, and so said plan is scrapped and never tried again?