Smart money on hydrogen fuel?

Have a read of "Fuel for thought" by Jonathan Hawley , SMH, Thursday March 2 2006.

Jonathan says that "Car makers at the Geneva motor show looked at different ways of helping the environment." Which is to say they still want to make lots of cars but look greener when doing it.

Point one - let's remember that cars have an inherent cost - the basic raw materials
must be dug up, transported and transformed - all energy-expensive actions - before assembled and sold to be driven. Before you even get some petrol or diesel into that new car you have already expended maybe 35-55% of the energy (and pollution) budget of that elaborately transformed good. It depends how big it is and how long you keep it, but you get my drift. Just making it stuffs up the planet. Make enough of them (or other individually expensive manufactured goods) and you will kill the planet.

Jonathan clearly digs deep into his subject and doesn't just accept car manufacturers at their word. For example he goes on to say, "Until a viable alternative to fossil fuels is found – and the smart money is on hydrogen-powered fuel cells – the chase is on to eke the last joule of energy from crude oil."

Hmmm - smart money on hydrogen, eh - I'd like to see the evidence for that one! Fuel cells look good conceptually, sure - but hydrogen in our tanks? Pumped out at gas stations on street corners? Nice throw-away
line that falls into line with car-makers spin, but little evidence that it will come to pass. What we do see is lots more hybrids and better burning petrol and diesel engines. And lots more alcohol/petrol mixes.

The real question is why can't car-mad automotive journos actually look beyond the spin and do some investigation of the real impact of their beloved cars. Heck, I have 3 of the darned things but they are all 4 cylinders, the smallest a 1.5l and the largest just under 2.0litres. We could all improve our national fuel consumption and lower our pollution-footprint by (a) keeping our cars longer, (b) driving them less, and (c) driving slower. Yes, newer cars are better at fuel efficiency and crash protection but they also tend to be larger, heavier and more complex. We can't claim to be angels when we save a penny here and spend (or perhaps add) a pound everywhere else.

Cheers, Rob.