flynn23 wrote:

] I don't know if I agree with the quote that the CO2 gets
] doubled. Emissions from hydrogen fuel cells are zero. It's
] water and heat at the end of the process. So even though you
] are consuming more coal fired electricty, you are reducing the
] greenhouse gas emissions, which gives you a net of zero, not
] 2x.

I wish I could remember where I've read the statistics, but the majority of air pollutants don't come from cars, they come from the industrial complex, including power plants. What the article is saying is that the amount of CO2 placed into the air by coal fired electrical plants is orders of magnitude higher than that of a gasoline engine. The article mentioned didn't state where a lot of our coal comes from - China and Russia.

] PLUS, as Decius pointed out, green power is on the rise.
] There's a lot of movement towards using natural gas instead of
] coal. There's also several flavors of fuel cell, which use
] things like ethanol, methanol, alcohol, and even gasoline. The
] bottom line here is that the technology works, it's only going
] to get better, it's only going to get cheaper, and at some
] point, our energy matrix will be solar generated electricity
] feeding hydrogen fuel cells, resulting in reverse greenhouse
] gas emissions.

I don't disagree with either of you one bit on that. I'm a big fan of advancing technology, especially in the area of fossil fuel independence. I'm seriously considering trading in the pick-em-up truck for a Ford Escape Hybrid gas/electric SUV when they are released later this year. It's the subterfuge - replacing Arab oil with Chinese coal - that I wanted to point out in the article, I wasn't trying to downplay the impact of more efficient vehicles.

] I've spent the last year investigating fuel cell technology as
] a possible business and I'm convinced that we will get to the
] above point within my lifetime.

I'd love to see this work, seriously. I think within 3 more years we'll see some serious advances in vehicle efficiency. Hell, even Saturn is working on a gas/electric hybrid to come out within the next 3 years, and they're about as slow as molasses when it comes to keeping up with the times.

RE: Not-so-clean cars