Science:
Last month, US Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced that the
Department of Energy (DOE) was putting the brakes on research
into automotive hydrogen fuel cells.Chu cites the cost and
durability of vehicle fuel cells, the inability to store large
volumes of hydrogen fuel, the absence of a carbon-free way of
generating the hydrogen, and the need to build a nationwide
refueling infrastructure.The issue came down to a simple
question, says Chu: "Is it likely in the next 10 or 15 or even
20 years that we will convert to a hydrogen-car economy? The
answer, we felt, was no."But many scientists and energy experts
believe Chu asked the wrong question and, therefore, made the
wrong call.No alternative-vehicle technology will make a major
impact on carbon emissions, petroleum use, or anything else
within the next 20 years, they say, because it takes longer
than that for a new technology to displace what is already on
the road.In the long run, they say only two
technologiesâmdash;hydrogen fuel cells and
electric vehiclesâmdash;are capable of getting
the job done. And only one variation, plug-in hybrids, will be
on the market anytime soon."There are uncertainties with both
these technologies," says Joan Ogden, who heads the sustainable
transportation energy program at the University of California,
Davis. "So the idea of taking one off the table seems
shortsighted."
