Why a hydrogen economy doesn't make sense

In a recent study, fuel cell expert Ulf Bossel explains that a hydrogen economy is a wasteful economy. The large amount of energy required to isolate hydrogen from natural compounds, package the light gas by compression or liquefaction, transfer the energy carrier to the user, plus the energy lost when it is converted to useful electricity with fuel cells, leaves around 25% for practical use -- an unacceptable value to run an economy in a sustainable future. Full Story »

Posted by Michael Unverferth
Tags Help
Subjects: Business, Sci/Tech
Topics: Energy
Member Tags: hydrogen economy, fuel cell, electricity transmission and distribution
Stats Help
Number sourcesHelp: 1
Anonymous sourcesHelp: 0
Number viewpointsHelp: 1
Opinions as factsHelp: 0
Number stakeholdersHelp: 0
Stakeholders quotedHelp: 0
Derogatory wordsHelp: 0
Complimentary wordsHelp: 0
Editorial Help
Posted by: Posted by Michael Unverferth - Dec 13, 2006 - 10:04 PM PST
Edit Lock: This story can be edited

Reviews

Show All | Notes | Comments | Quotes | Links
Mike LaBonte
3.0
by Mike LaBonte - Oct. 1, 2008

This article begins with a clear declaration of the problems with hydrogen and gets right to the core issues. But although the claim of hydrogen inefficiency is true, the chart that provides supporting evidence is not well explained. The "electron economy" section makes excellent points, but fails to paint a complete picture for it. So close, but overall not as convincing as it should be. Single source.

See Full Review » (12 answers)
Michael Unverferth
3.9
by Michael Unverferth - Oct. 1, 2008

Good analysis of the long-term impracticality of moving to a hydrogen economy.

See Full Review » (7 answers)
Duncan Brown
1.4
by Duncan Brown - Oct. 1, 2008

The topic is vitally important, but the author of this piece chose only to regurgitate the source article. This is frustrating because the Bossel article that is its only source (“Does a Hydrogen Economy Make Sense?”) sounds like a serious attempt to put some boundaries on the current craze among politicians for the so-called hydrogen economy. The Proceedings of the IEEE is a serious peer reviewed journal, which doesn't print articles by cranks. The National Academy of Science has also given the hydrogen economy some serious attention, and published at least one report recently.

(comment refers to full article) More »

See Full Review » (13 answers)

Comments on this story Help (BETA)

NT Rating | My Rating

Ratings

2.8

Average
from 3 reviews (30% confidence)
Quality
2.8
Facts
2.0
Fairness
2.0
Information
3.0
Sourcing
2.3
Style
2.5
Accuracy
3.3
Balance
1.5
Context
2.0
Popularity
2.6
Recommendation
2.7
# Reviews
1.5
# Views
2.8
# Likes
1.0
# Emails
1.0
More
How our ratings work »

Topics

(See these related stories.)

Links Help

No links yet. Please review this story to add some!