What would it take for the U.S. to become a hydrogen-based economy? Tomorrow’s Energy: Hydrogen, Fuel Cells, and the Prospects for a Cleaner Planet outlines the roadblocks and the reasons why the industry should not veer from this path:

Paperback, 301pp

MIT Press, August 2002

ISBN-13: 026258221X

Barnes & Noble online price: $18.00

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SYNOPSIS

FROM THE PUBLISHER
“President Bush’s remarks in his State-of-the-Union message proposing a big jump in funding for hydrogen and fuel cell research and development are terrific news. It’s imperative that Congress follows through now and makes available those funds.

Aside from the tangible benefits of spending more on an environmentally benign area of energy that for too long has been treated – often condescendingly – like a poor orphan, the political message is of supreme significance. For decades, supporters of hydrogen and other alternative energy fields have argued until they were blue in the face, that the key ingredient missing in moving forward is national political will.

President Bush’s support provides a large measure of that political will.”
–Peter Hoffmann, 31 January 2003

About the book:
Hydrogen is the quintessential eco-fuel. This invisible, tasteless gas is the most abundant element in the universe. It is the basic building block and fuel of stars and an essential raw material in innumerable biological and chemical processes. As a completely nonpolluting fuel, it may hold the answer to growing environmental concerns about atmospheric accumulation of carbon dioxide and the resultant Greenhouse Effect. In this book Peter Hoffmann describes current research toward a hydrogen-based economy. He presents the history of hydrogen energy and discusses the environmental dangers of continued dependence on fossil fuels.

Hydrogen is not an energy source but a carrier that, like electricity, must be manufactured. Today hydrogen is manufactured by “decarbonizing” fossil fuels. In the future it will be derived from water and solar energy and perhaps from “cleaner” versions of nuclear energy. Because it can be made by a variety of methods, Hoffmann argues, it can be easily adapted by different countries and economies. Hoffmann acknowledges the social, political, and economic difficulties in replacing current energy systems with an entirely new one. Although the process of converting to a hydrogen-based economy would be complex, he demonstrates that the environmental and health benefits would far outweigh the costs.

SYNOPSIS
How hydrogen–nonpolluting and easy to produce–could become the fuel of the future.

FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
Editor of The Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Letter and author of The Forever Fuel: The Story of Hydrogen, Hoffmann chronicles the worldwide progression of hydrogen energy from a niche market to a viable commercial product. Arguing that fossil fuels will not be cheap to find in the future and that renewables are becoming less expensive, he advocates the use of hydrogen as a nonpolluting form of energy for fuel cells and as an energy storage medium. Hoffmann thoroughly details the history of hydrogen projects worldwide from experimental fuel cell vehicles produced by the major auto makers to research into the use of hydrogen as airplane fuel, the application of hydrogen in utilities in Germany and China, and a few experimental hydrogen-powered houses in the United States. Hoffmann frankly explains the pros and cons of the hydrogen debate, including safety issues, economics, and the difficulty in moving our national energy policy away from fossil fuels. Because there are so few books on this energy source, academic and public libraries that have a strong interest in alternative energy materials will want to purchase for informed readers. Eva Lautemann, Georgia Perimeter Coll., Clarkston Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

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