From Hugh Williams
A dangerous myth is in the process of taking root in regard to hydrogen power (16 August, p 3 and p 8). It claims that in a few years’ time the hydrogen economy will save us from the twin horrors of dwindling oil reserves and global warming. Once we have overcome a few technical problems concerning storage and fuel cell cost, the future will be rosy.
The danger is that this approach breeds a business- as-usual complacency and blinds us to the real issue, which is how much energy we need to sustain our present existence.
Consider the statistic you cite: “If the entire US fleet of 200 million vehicles converted to fuel cells and plugged in, they would generate four times the grid’s current capacity.” Turn this on its head and it looks rather different: “We will need four times the current national grid capacity to make the hydrogen required to run all the cars in the country.”
Granted, the nation’s cars won’t all be on the road at the same time, but taking into account conversion efficiencies, national generating capacity would probably have to double just to feed our cars. That’s a lot of windmills.
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Aberdeen, UK
