Bush Could Usher in Hydrogen Age as Kennedy Did Space Age

glennsacks.com ^ | Tuesday, January 28, 2003 | Glenn Sacks

[new cruelty]

Food for thought.

[GalvestonBeachcomber]

This is how I know it was a great speech:
Speech This is a RealPlayer file.

[Contra]

Speaking of hydrogen - remember what happened to the Hindenburg. Oh the humanity!

[new cruelty]

HAH. nice. did you piece that together yourself?

I recall The Joker shaking her head when GWB was talking about taxes. I figured she would certainly have something to say about it later in the night.

[mrsmith]

This article is definite socialist Kook bait.

TANSTAAFL!!!!
You only get out of hydrogen the energy you put into seperating it in the first place.

That said,
I found this the silliest part of Bush's speech- BUT>
It could lead to building atomic energy plants- as atomic energy is the only affordable way of powering a "hydrogen economy".

[The FRugitive]

I'm a big supporter of hydrogen power, but this is for private industry, not government.

[Moonman62]

The president may have the backbone to stand up to Iraq, but not to the eco-terrorists. He's taking the easy way out by firing up another multi-billion dollar government program.

Private companies have been working on this for years. All the government will do is keep throwing more and more of our tax dollars at it, if the market rejects it.

[pgkdan]

When I heard him make reference to a child born today could leqarn to drive in a hydrogen powered car I immediately thought of JFK's challenge to ge to the moon before the end of the 60's.

[pgkdan]

Speaking of hydrogen - remember what happened to the Hindenburg. Oh the humanity!

Just imagine if that had been gasoline! The explosion would have leveled half fo North Jersey.

[goldstategop]

The market may have no choice but to go along. Don't laugh but I think its more feasible than the battery powered electric cars no one wants to buy because of their limitations and the fact you still have to take several hours in the garage to juice up the car before you can take it out for a spin. And the other factor that held up electric cars is the fact you can't really take long road trips with 'em. Personally this part of the speech went a long way to rebutting the enviro wackos and anti-war kooks on the Left who insist President Bush's sole motive for going to war with Iraq is for oil. Now that the President has proposed hydrogen fuel cell technology for cars, that's made the opposition look ridiculous and made the President look environmentally responsible.

[pgkdan]

You only get out of hydrogen the energy you put into seperating it in the first place.

Yup...probably the same bunch of people who want to electrify every house in America. Everyone knows that's just plain foolishness. Dangerous, unhealthy and impossible!

[LonghornFreeper]

I have to disagree with you about this being a socialist idea. I am a strong conservative, but there is nothing socialist about liking clean air. I have been in Los Angeles and Houston and seen what smog is like. Even my home city of Dallas has its own cloud. I think many "conservatives" of today would have written off the Wright brothers, Henry Ford, Fulton, and many others as socialists, simply because they had new ideas. Just think, with this technology we could tell OPEC to collectivly jump in a lake. Many things we take for granted today, the Internet and commercial satellites just to name a couple, might never have gotten started without a push from the government.

[mrsmith]

If you really want to misunderestimate Bush you can pretend that he can't see that a "hydrogen economy" requires nuclear power.

Of course you'd be stupidly wrong- but Bush haters never let being stupidly wrong get in the way of being snide and vacuous.

[goldstategop]

My thoughts exactly. The market will never do it on its own but if the government gives it a big push, it'll happen. And our economy will be stronger and just think of the benefits of not having to import oil from a volatile region of the planet. All of which will enhance the quality of our environment, our standard of living, and our national security. Its what I would call environmentalism with a conservative tinge. Let's not cede clean air and pure water to the enviro wackos.

[mrsmith]

"To a business executive, who must focus on profits, the added cost of fuel cell power is usually prohibitive. But for America as a whole, and indeed humanity as a whole, the cost difference is relatively small. Why? Because price comparisons don’t account for the massive secondary cost of fossil fuels: air pollution, global warming, and the fact that our oil supply is finite. "

That is what makes this article "socialist kook bait".

"with this technology we could tell OPEC to collectivly jump in a lake"
Sure, if the cost to the economy (you and me) is reasonable; using nuclear power the cost could be less than our energy cost now.

[Zebra]

Oh the humanity!

Always makes me think of the WKRP in Cincinnati episode about the turkeys dropped from the helicopter. Oh the humanity!

[goldstategop]

I would like to see the greens announce opposition to this as they are to nuclear power.

[capt. norm]

"hydrogen, the most abundant element in our world"

It's the most abundant element in the universe.

on Earth:
atmosphere: nitrogen.
crust (by weight...believe it or not): oxygen.