[libstripper]

"Under the Bush administration's proposal (for hydrogen fuel cells), the hydrogen primarily comes from nuclear and coal-fired power plants, which would make it really dirty energy. Now if he's proposing solar-powered hydrogen electricity, we'd be very supportive of that. We'd like to see him answer that question."

This, except for the second sentence, is one of the few accurate things to come from the Sierra Club. The fact is that, unless the law of conservation of energy is repealed, hydrogen will always require more energy to produce than it will provide. Hence, the likely outcome of going to hydrogen powered vehicles will be more emissions than there are now; they'll just be moved from the cars to the power plants.

[BMiles2112]

What! You mean that using solar panels to generate electricity, used to produce Hydrogen gas, to be converted back to electricity, to power the vehicle isn't an efficient method of delivering power to the wheels?

[Technogeeb]

This, except for the second sentence, is one of the few accurate things to come from the Sierra Club

I'll dispute the first sentence as well. The "nuclear" part of "from nuclear and coal-fired power plants, which would make it really dirty energy" is nonsense. Nuclear power is one of the cleanest forms of energy we have, even just measuring on radioactive pollution alone (the average coal plant puts out more radioactives in a year than a nuke plant will throughout it's lifespan). The problem with nuclear power is political, not technical.

The fact is that, unless the law of conservation of energy is repealed, hydrogen will always require more energy to produce than it will provide.

While hydrogen is generally considered a fuel transport mechanism rather than a fuel source, this statement isn't completely true either. It would be true if you got the hydrogen from a source like water, but it is possible to obtain the hydrogen from natural gas instead (providing more energy than required to produce it). Of course, natural gas supplies aren't infinite, but it would be trivial to access methane hydrate supplies off the coast (providing enough energy for a few thousand years or longer) once the supply of easily exploitable natural gas is expended.

[Orion78]

"Hence, the likely outcome of going to hydrogen powered vehicles will be more emissions than there are now; they'll just be moved from the cars to the power plants."

If you use only nuclear power to create the hydrogen, you just create more nuclear waste. Sure, nuclear waste is bad, but at least you know where it is and can stay away from it. Not so with pollution from automobile exhausts and coal/oil power plants. It mixes in with the air that you breathe and unless you live in LA or some other big city, you can't see what you are breathing in.