[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by TubaMorg

But check this out, H2 fuel cell technology is still possible. After all what can be cooler than pollutionless transportation? Check out the web site for National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). They have a few different alternative processes for making H2, the most attractive so far is their bio-hydrogen research. Well since I'm getting my phd. in biology this seems the coolest to me! There exists in this world particular types of algae that will produce hydrogen under certain growth conditions. The idea is to modify these algae and identify the particular growth conditions that maximize H2 output. They are already able to do it on a small scale, but the challenge remains to scale it up to large scale industrial production.

TANSTAAFL. The algae eat something, and producing that something uses energy and space. What are the environmental implications of growing this algae? Do the waste products create a biohazard? Do they pollute the water? What other gases are released? Are some of these gases greenhouse gases? How many acres of land would have to be given over to growing algae to meet the world's energy needs? Do we need hydroponic greenhouses 120 miles long? Where are we going to get all the ponds and lakes we need to grow this algae? Are we willing to dam estuaries to build algae ponds to produce hydrogen? Who is then going to pay for the distribution infrastructure for the hydrogen? There are something on the order of 200 million vehicles in the US alone -- none of which burn hyrdogen. Are we willing to dump a capital investment of (wild guess) $2,000,000,000,000?

Melis Energy, the company created by researchers at UC Berkeley to develop commercial applications for algae-grown hydrogen, no longer has a Website, and I couldn't find out what happened to them. I'm guessing they couldn't solve the low yield problem. Maybe someone else can...