A British corporation claims to have developed a synthetic hydrogen based fuel that will produce zero carbon emissions when burned, retail for $1.50 per gallon, and work in existing internal combustion engines without any modifications required. It almost sounds too good to be true, and only time will tell whether the product can live up to the claims.
Whether or not it works, I still have some concerns. Hydrogen is a great fuel to burn because it produces only water as exhaust, but unlike fossil fuels, there are no great reservoirs of hydrogen just sitting around waiting to be exploited. Hydrogen must be produced from other sources. Hydrogen is most commonly produced from natural gas. The chemical reaction is as follows:
CH4 + 2(H2O) => 4(H2) + CO2
In other words, the hydrogen production process itself produces carbon dioxide, so the claim of zero carbon emissions is rather spurious.
Hydrogen can also be produced from water, but this requires a significant input of electrical energy. The standard internal combustion engines they propose using to burn the fuel have always been a very inefficient way to power a vehicle. (Electric motors are about 4 times as efficient.) While this fuel may provide carbon savings over gasoline combustion if it is manufactured using clean electricity, it would likely lead to a net increase in carbon emissions in locations without reliable renewable energy sources. And, regardless of where the hydrogen fuel is manufactured, it cannot hope to be as efficient as an electrical vehicle.
If the product can be brought to market quickly with hydrogen manufactured from clean electricity, it might provide a good stop-gap measure until electrical vehicle technology has advanced to the point that will make it practical for all vehicle uses, but I would hate to see excitement about this less promising technology take away from the development of something that will ultimately be a far superior.
Personal Climate Change 
Well put, Pete. Although I do admire the fact that any sort of initiative is being undertaken. We are notoriously slow to move toward change…
I’m still not convinced that this one doesn’t belong in the same category as cold fusion.
Yes I’ve thought that too, to be honest.