Hydrogen

The most basic of atoms, that building block of the universe is once again taking the center stage in our modern industrial era. When the universe was young, hydrogen played the key role of burning in fusion reactions to create the heavier elements that allowed for the creation of life. Now it is the new leading player in our quest to burn a cleaner, more abundant fuel source in powering our vehicles. Yes, the hydrogen fuel cell is making it to the forefront in our automotive driven culture.

BMW has announced that they will begin offering hydrogen powered cars starting next year. They will start with very high end vehicles that can only be leased. The cars will run on both gasoline and hydrogen due to a lack of infrastructure for fuel availability for the new technology. This offers a new and inexhaustible fuel source to power our world into the next generation of technological advances. Since the hydrogen to power the vehicles will be derived from water and the by product of the combustion of hydrogen is water, it is a never ending source of fuel All you need is a power source to separate the hydrogen from the oxygen and you get a power source. We have another hydrogen power source, the sun, to assist with that conversion.

I know that many US companies are building ethanol plants to provide an additive to gasoline. These ethanol plants use primarily corn to create the ethanol and create a significant amount of waste. They also require a large water supply to keep the process going. The use of corn has the opportunity to create higher prices for a US grown commodity which is great for farmers. The unfortunate side affect of that is higher price will also translate into higher food costs as products like high fructose corn syrup (component of any sweetened beverage), corn flakes, grain fed beef, and other corn by-products. Ethanol appears to be a short term solution to our energy needs. In the long term, a cheap renewable source like hydrogen will be the obvious answer.

Icool

Cobb