Is hydrogen close to being a viable, common energy source? What are the obstacles?
From what I know, the only reliable fuel cell allowing the -relatively- safe combustion of hydrogen* requires platinum plating to work, and there literally isn’t enough platinum to power all the cars in Europe, let alone the world. I understand that a plasticated polymer (I’ve got the name wrong, but “plasticated polymer” sounds wonderfully technical, so I’ll go along with it for the time being!) is undergoing studies to see if it can be used in place of platinum. Anyway, the main reason for the lack of adoption of hydrogen power, even in a few power stations which could be fitted with platinum fuel cells for a trial period is the action of capitalist market forces. It is expensive to do this sort of thing, and any power company which tried it on a large enough scale would fall behind it’s competitors which are offering the public all that lovely cheap petrol.
