If I were a science-fiction writer trying to dream up the perfect fuel, I could hardly do better than hydrogen. High in energy, it produces almost no pollution when burned. It’s also the simplest and most abundant of elements, making up 90 percent of all matter. It’s present in stars and living things, in fossil fuels and, most mesmerizingly of all, in water.

A transition to a hydrogen economy is, at best, decades away. We have a long way to go. Gas is cheap. How can hydrogen compete? If we believe that the corrective policy is to put a tax on gasoline, given the social cost of oil is $50 a barrel, say, you divide that by 42 gallons in a barrel, that’s more than a $1 tax per gallon of gasoline. Which politician would be willing to put a tax of a dollar on gasoline? So that’s the essence of the problem. We’re not paying the true cost of gasoline. The point is that hydrogen and alternative fuels have to compete in that type of market.

Hydrogen – Coal of The Future (#1)
– Rajneesh Wadhwa