Hydrogen Myth
Converting water to H is not going to keep our fat bums in cars. For a dose of understandable science and pragmatism, view The Hydrogen Myth:
The spokesmen for the hydrogen hoax claim that hydrogen will be manufactured from water via electrolysis. It is certainly possible to make hydrogen this way, but it is very expensiveâso much so, that only four percent of all hydrogen currently produced in the United States is produced in this manner. The rest is made by breaking down hydrocarbons, through processes like pyrolysis of natural gas or steam reforming of coal.
Neither type of hydrogen is even remotely economical as fuel. The wholesale cost of commercial grade liquid hydrogen (made the cheap way, from hydrocarbons) shipped to large customers in the United States is about $6 per kilogram. High purity hydrogen made from electrolysis for scientific applications costs considerably more. Dispensed in compressed gas cylinders to retail customers, the current price of commercial grade hydrogen is about $100 per kilogram. For comparison, a kilogram of hydrogen contains about the same amount of energy as a gallon of gasoline. This means that even if hydrogen cars were available and hydrogen stations existed to fuel them, no one with the power to choose otherwise would ever buy such vehicles. This fact alone makes the hydrogen economy a non-starter in a free society.
And even if you are among those willing to sacrifice freedom and economic rationality for the sake of the environment, and therefore prefer hydrogen for its advertised benefit of reduced carbon dioxide emissions, think again. Because hydrogen is actually made by reforming hydrocarbons, its use as fuel would not reduce greenhouse gas emissions at all. In fact, it would greatly increase them. (hat tip: The Oil Drum)
The following chart shows the last 10 years of price movement for Ballard Power, the largest producer of Hydrogen fuel cells in the world (80% market share), and illustrates that the smart money (not the government to be sure) is not sold on Hydrogen – they’ve done their homework. Yet certain governments pour billions into this area of research annually, wasting taxpayer’s funds on pipe dreams that will never be realizable.
Ethanol isn’t going to keep our butts in cars either, by the way. Canada under Harper is joining George W. Bush in paying for votes from the agricultural areas of Canada by pimping ethanol as the next big thing. Subsidized ethanol doesn’t solve energy or greenhouse gas problems – its a shell game of another sort worthy of a post on its own – but what it does do is give a government a tool to literally buy votes.