Cato has an interesting article by San Jose State professor emeritus Donald Anthrop on the viability of hydrogen as an energy source. A notable quote:

"Before any more money is spent pursuing the dream of a "hydrogen economy," [...] policymakers need to get out their calculators and seriously consider the environmental costs of bringing this dream to reality. If they do, they'll find that harnessing hydrogen for widespread use in the energy sector will consume more energy than it will save, and it will worsen, not better, environmental quality."

After showing his calculations, Anthrop later says:

"The environmental implications of moving vehicles with hydrogen-powered fuel cells rather than with gasoline are bracing. Replacing 16 quads of gasoline-fired energy with 32 quads of coal-fired energy to produce electrolysis hydrogen would result in a 2.7-fold increase in carbon emissions."

The article continues with a brief analysis of the pitfalls of using renewable resources (hydro-electric, wind, solar, etc.) as the energy source to produce hydrogen. He concludes with perhaps the most important points:

"...Although technological improvement may well increase the efficiency with which energy is used along some if not all of the production chain, the challenges are so immense that the confident predictions of imminent economic breakthroughs heard from the political class are hard to take seriously.

Decisions about the relative merits of various emerging technologies are best left to the marketplace, where private investors have every incentive to make the soundest bets. If hydrogen-powered fuel cells hold economic promise, investors will have every incentive to promote their development. If they do not, then investors will rightly put their money elsewhere. Subsidies simply impose politically-inspired judgments on market actors, and there is no reason to think that those judgments are better informed than the ones that reign in the marketplace."

(2004-12-08 20:43:32.0/2004-12-08 20:43:32.0) Permalink
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