What a surprise.

The energy companies want us to use hydrogen. Guess it's the only way to protect their bottom line.

I always get real concerned whenever I see oil companies lying in bed with auto manufacturers; I always smell the sour stinch of market control and price setting.

You guys are just shills for the big battery lobby.

Clett,
Please realize that the only fastest way to move toward clean fuel and clean environment and fight global warming is to have the energy companies to initiate that themselves. They have enormous resources and political clout to bring about a rapid change once they realize that they will be able to make just as much money on H2 (and methane) economy as on the old and dirty petroleum economy. It is increasingly more expensive to explore for oil and to pump oil out of the ever deeper and deeper oil wells.
There's nothing wrong with big battery lobby, either, if battery technology can or will deliver.

EU governments, the auto industry and the natural gas industry have invested billions in hydrogen infrastructure and fuel cell research so of course they are now going to at least try and bring it to market. If the cancelled the effort now, they would be held accountable.

That doesn't mean I think it's a good idea, especially since global warming has now displaced tailpipe emissions and recycling as the European public's #1 environmental concern related to cars and trucks. On that score, both biofuels and electric hybrids appear both more effective and more practical. In the present context of serious budget deficits (Europeans actually still car about being in debt, witness the events in Hungary), it is unlikely that truly vast quantities of additional taxpayer money will be squandered on setting up a hydrogen economy. We seem to prefer handing it to the farmers, who pass it on to foods and agrochemical giants who *allegedly* finance political parties in places like France.

Suffice it to say that I would be content to see H2ICE fuel cell vehicles fail in the market, at the expense of these newer concepts. The reseach effort was not entirely in vain, though: fuel cells and the hydrogen infrastructure supporting them may well make sense in short-hop aviation, cargo submarines for North Pole routes and, as energy buffers for renewable electricity (once the buffering capacity of hydro dams has been exhausted). It is not unusual that technology ends up being used in ways not envisioned by its developers.

Big oil goes for h2 because they already produce h2 on a massive scale for making cleaner normal fuels. Its a tech they already know alot about and its exactly the sort of tech they are suited for. Mind you those same companies in many cases will also buy stock in biofuels production as well BUT in those cases its far far better if a FOOD company is running the show as they know alot more about crops and farming then an oil company does.

The road to H2 economy is not one way. The oil companies will make it a Hobson's choice and use of oil resource (methane) to get to H2 economy not much of a choice. The conflict of interest is that the oil companies have no interest in rising above their self interest, therefore this is all pretext, grandstanding PR, i'll give you a clever stratey. The harm inflicted is that any alternative energy company or one thinking about investing in an alternative energy company will be detoured.

The true goal is not H2 economy, but to get off environmentally damaging energy without sacrificing standard of living and quality of life. How we get there should not increase the damage.

Walt