Hydrogen Power

In the news today:

Of a scheme to get more hydrogen cars on the road, Friends of the Earth said: 'It shows that Wales is prepared to take the lead in this area, which is something we can proud of' (source)

Just before the gasoline car became prominent in London, conditions surrounding the city were horrific. All around were enormous piles of stagnant horse manure. These piles took up acres of land and frequently caught fire. In the year 1900 in New York city, 2.5 million pounds of horse manure had to be cleaned up every day. (source)

When the gasoline car took hold, the burning piles of horse excrement disappeared. The car became the celebrated proof of how technology was going to create a cleaner environment and make life wonderful for all.

Now we have the hydrogen car. It is being celebrated as the new technology that will clean up the environment and make life wonderful for all. Something to be proud of.

As excited as I am, I do have a few niggling questions:

1) What energy source is envisioned being used to separate the hydrogen from the water?

2) What will the atmosphere look like if there a millions and millions of cars spewing hot water vapour into the air?

3) How will all that water vapour affect the atmosphere? (Hint: Do clouds have anything to do with the weather?)

4) Will the hydrogen car change any of the enormous car infrastructure that has covered the landscape and divided communities? (source)

Just asking. That's all.

I would like to suggest that the environment of modern society could be restricting our vision so that we can only see solutions that recreate modern society in a slightly different flavour. I would go on to suggest that if we do this, we will simply rediscover the same old modern problems.

We need something new. Our best ideas can be found here and we'd love to hear yours.