hydrogen fuel cell car

[dogscoff]

The Hydrogen car is a reality. BMW have developped the technology in a suitably small and affordable form. They have only to work out how to build "moulded" hydrogen storage units (rather than big 'ol cylinders in the boot) and they're there. Oh, and the small matter of setting up national networks of hydrogen fuelling stations...

There is no way it can come from renewable sources - no place to build dozens of Hoover Dam or thousands of windmills

Sure there is. Renewable enrgy does take up a lot of space, yes, but the world has plenty of big, empty deserts just begging to be turned into energy farms. Besides, with research, the technology could probably be made more efficient, meaning more power generation per square metre of farm. I doubt it would ever reach the output of a nuclear plant but that would be OK by me.

Also, imagine if every house, office and factory had a solar panel on the roof - you'd hardly see them but you could probably close down a nuclear plant or two.

Cars, too - We already have hybrid electric/ fossil fuel cars, why not a hybrid electric/ hydrogen one? Then you could stick a few solar panels on the roof for the electric motor. Granted, they wouldn't get the car very far on their own, but they would help to reduce the power being taken from the national grid. Add to that those systems you can get which reclaim power from the brakes (can't remember what that's called), and you could probably negate the excess energy consumption you're worried about.

Also, don't forget other renewable sources: Geothermal, for example (although that's limited) and wave power. I think I read that here in the UK we have enough potential for wave power to run the entire country.

Finally, more could be done to reduce the power already being consumed: better heat insulation in homes, people switching off lights they're not using, drinking water not being wasted, walking/ cycling for short journies rather than drive. People wouldn't have to make huge sacrifices to do these things either- saving energy saves money. All it needs is a shift in the way people, businesses and government think.

All that said, it wil be interesting to see if the hydrogen car's water exhaust doesn't turn into a kind of pollution itself... we have the potential to banish petrol fumes and diesel particulates from our cities forever, but at the cost of increased humidity. Will buildings and streets be running with condensation? Will all the excess water affect precipitation?