Of the vexing challenges humanity faces -- and there are many -- the most imminent is around energy. Beyond food, water, and shelter, anything more than basic survival requires a serious dose of energy. Oil, the fuel of choice for more than a century, is a finite resource facing a future of supply uncertainty and increasingly high cost to consumers. The use of oil also has very serious environmental consequences. Air pollution generated by our use of oil and other hydrocarbon fuels like coal is directly linked to global warming, the greatest manmade environmental threat Planet Earth has ever known. Our world desperately needs an alternative to oil that is both pollution free and endlessly abundant in supply. Fortunately, there is one alternative that meets those daunting criteria. That fuel -- a fuel that will have a major place in powering our homes, businesses, motor vehicles, aircraft, and shipping in coming years -- is hydrogen.

By Geoffrey Holland

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