November 22, 2009
UTNE READER

A Hydrogen Economy Is a Bad Idea

March 5, 2003
David Morris Alternet 
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Most conservatives and liberals agree, hydrogen-fueled cars will be good for the economy and good for the environment. ?Such unanimity forecloses discussion,? cautions David Morris, vice president of the Minneapolis? and Washington, D.C.?based Institute for Local Self Reliance, in an Alternet commentary. As a result, many Americans are operating under the false assumption that the hydrogen economy?a phrase coined by General Motors?will be derived from renewable energy sources, such as wind or water. This simply isn?t the case, insists Morris. ?[Fifty] percent of the world?s commercial hydrogen now comes from natural gas. [Twenty] percent is derived from coal.? Although the fossil fuel industry is key in most current hydrogen technology, nuclear industry insiders declare nuclear power ?is the only way to produce hydrogen gas on a large scale without contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.? As a result of this ongoing battle, Morris predicts that the next 20-50 years of hydrogen consumption ?will overwhelmingly be derived from fossil fuels or with nuclear energy.?
-Erin Ferdinand

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Go there>>http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15239

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