Reply #5: To each his own. I'd never put my family in that thing. [View All]

[NNadir]

Hydrogen's extremely low critical temperature (one of the lowest known), it's low energy density, even when liquefied (at great energy expense), it's extremely low viscosity, and it's diffusion/effusion rate (the highest known) all point to it being an undesirable fuel on safety grounds.

The only thing that recommends hydrogen is that its combustion product (or more properly, to include fuel cells, its reaction product with oxygen) is water. However the environmental impact of hydrogen is not a function of how it is used but of how it is made. The system for making hydrogen explored in this paper would have a relatively low environmental impact when compared to coal, for instance, and a relatively high environmental impact when compared to a nuclear reactor.

I do hope that technologies like these will come into wide use, my enthusiasm for nuclear energy notwithstanding. On the other hand, I hope that any hydrogen produced through such technology will be used wisely. Wise use, imo, does not include its use in cars traveling at high speeds.