New fuel to avoid energy doomsday
On Friday, the price of oil hit a record high -- $90.07 a barrel.
On that same day, President Bush said he'd like oil to be cheaper. Hardly a weighty observation. But we must add that the president, though a spokesman, did have a slightly more profound reaction to the spike in oil prices in saying "he'd like to see us rely less on sources of foreign oil and reduce our dependence on all sources of oil."
A local legislator was thinking the same thing last week. And then went about trying to do something about our reckless reliance on oil.
Rep. Judy Biggert, a Hinsdale Republican whose congressional district encompasses portions of DuPage and Will counties, got an amendment to legislation approved that would expand research into hydrogen as an energy source. It specifically seeks to expand hydrogen storage options, which Biggert is convinced holds promise after talking with scientists at Argonne National Laboratory near Lemont.
Hydrogen, as an alternative fuel, has an exciting but uncertain future.
The exciting part is that hydrogen is an environmentally friendly fuel. It emits no greenhouse gases. Vehicles powered by hydrogen do not use combustion.
Hydrogen can also be exclusively produced here -- no need to bring it in from the Middle East. And hydrogen is abundantly available.
But there are drawbacks.
It is more expensive to produce hydrogen than conventional gasoline -- and fossil fuel has to be used in the process. There is infrastructure in place to readily refine oil. There is not the same for hydrogen.
It is difficult to store a sufficient amount of hydrogen in a car to allow for long trips without refueling. And just where would you fill up?
It costs much more to build a hydrogen car in comparison to one run on gasoline, or even a hybrid car.
For anyone so inclined, there are reasons to shun hydrogen as an alternative fuel. But that would be foolish, given hydrogen's promise as one of many alternative fuels that also include biofuels and wind and solar power.
Research is the key to surmounting obstacles to hydrogen becoming a reliable, practical and cost effective source of power.
To his credit, President Bush has committed over $1 billion to hydrogen fuel research and development. And Biggert is compelling Congress to support the advancement of exploration into hydrogen as a means of breaking our dangerous addiction to foreign oil.
People can say that believing in hydrogen as an alternative fuel is just dreaming. But dream we do, in this country, when we think something is important enough to accomplish. Like putting a man into outer space. Or putting people into affordable hydrogen-run cars.
And better to dream than face the economic and national security nightmare that lies ahead if we don't at last reduce our reliance on foreign oil.