As a scienceforums.com newbie, I’m not sure if replying to old threads is sensible, but as a H head since the 1970s, can’t resist a H fuel discussion.
I’ve doubts about the feasibility a hydrogen-based energy distribution system that’s patterned too nearly after the prevailing oil-based system. If it’s to be successful, I believe that hydrogen will need to be produced at the point of sale – the pump – rather than at large (possibly nuclear fission) facilities, then transported to the point of sale.
Because hydrogen, a tiny molecule that tends to leak past or through most containers, is practically the most difficult substance existent to handle the way we’re accustom to handling oil-based fuel.
Most current demonstration hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicles create hydrogen and store relatively small amounts of hydrogen at the point of sale, using water and electricity supplied by ordinary water and power distribution systems. As alexander’s starting post cites, this is prohibitively inefficient for widespread implementation.
I’ve a lot of hope that hydrogen can be efficiently generated using next-generation regenerative fuel cells. A good discussion of these can be read at the first-googled
http://www.llnl.gov/str/Mitlit.html . Currently, RFCs are small – around 50 Watts (an unspectacular passenger car needs about 50,000 W peak power), and “unitized” – that is, able only to create and store hydrogen for their own use, not for extraction, so “next generation” means not only more powerful, but fundamentally redesigned – “de-unitized”. Nonetheless, I think they’re feasible.
