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Originally Posted by Craig
Fuel cells have LOTS of potential, but everyone has to remember that obtaining H2 requires extracting it from water, which requires at least as much energy as is obtained when it is recombined with O2 to form energy and water again. H2 is not really an energy source, it is a way to transport and store energy. From an environmental and energy conservation point of view, it really only helps if the energy used to originally extract the H2 is "clean."
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Two things.
First, you'll never be able to extract enough H2 to equal the energy spent in the extraction. You'll always lose.
Second, the most common source for H2 currently is natural gas, not water.
As with the hybrids, fuel cell vehicles are decades away from standing on their own merits.
Not that I'm against the research...it's just that, by the time they sort any of this out, my biggest concern will be whether my nursing home requires hybrid or fuel-cell wheelchairs.