John,
As an engineer with a degree in thermodynamics and energy conversion, I agree that one day in the not too distant future hydrogen may indeed play an important role in providing our energy needs. The real issue is how to get the hydrogen, the answer may be fusion, and we are getting closer I believe to solving that technical issue. Delivery and infrastructure being other key factors, means that we are probably decades away from really seeing an impact in that alternative fuel. I think that tar sands, ANWR, and changing fuel efficiency standards along with increased use of hy-brid engines like the Toyota Prius and The Honda Insight, hold the best promise, with those hy-brid engines something we can imploy in the next few years. If the government is serious, they should find a way to provide energy tax credits towards the purchase of an hy-brid car with overall effeciencies exceeding 40mpg. I think that at present these cars are priced about $4,000 too high, so that should identify the nature of the credit if the government is serious about conservation using this approach. People will by a $4,000 tax credit that makes environmental and gas sense. If that could convert let us say an extra 350,000 vehicles per year over the first 3 years, that could start to have an impact. Replacing a 15-20 mpg auto with a 40mpg auto. By year 3 we would be looking at annual savings of around 300 million gallons of gasoline, not insignificant but it won't bring Saudi Arabia and the Arab world to the brink either. |
