Hydrogen Isn't Always the Renewable It Seems To Be

Ever since President Bush announced his hydrogen car initiative in his State of the Union address, hydrogen as a fuel source has received more press. But hydrogen isn't necessarily the renewable energy it's portrayed to be - whether it is or not depends on the underlying source of energy used to produce it. For instance, hydrogen can be produced from offshore technologies such as OTEC as described at this website. And as this article entitled "Renewables Key to Hydrogen Economy" (Brussels May 1, 2003) notes, the success of hydrogen as a renewable in Europe, depends on the successful development of renewable technologies first. Meanwhile, as for trends in the U.S., this column by Dave Zweifel entitled "Big Oil Latches on to Hydrogen" Madison.com (May 5, 2003) notes that it's likely that most hydrogen in the U.S. will come from non-renewable sources such as coal and oil. So at least here in the United States, classifying hydrogen as a renewable isn't quite accurate.