George Dubya, Fuel Cells, Alternate Energy

[Vogon_Glory]

Has anyone noticed any print articles regarding the pResident and his promotion of hydrogen fuel cells as "proof" that he's serious about a post-petroleum economy?

While I do favor fuel cells, I smell bovine biomass every time I see such claims emanating from the Boosh regime.

Has anyone else noticed that the sorts of alternate energy proposals the incumbent seems to be promote are only long-term possibilities? That the development of practical, economical hydrogen fuels and the means to manufacture and store the fuels for these technologies are still some years away? That the alternate energy technologies the pResident's men are promoting all seem to be ones that require big distribution systems and huge amounts of capital?

Now mind you, I favor fuel cells over internal combustion, but even laymen like me are aware of such info tidbits that energy companies have experimented with fuel cells that run on fossil fuels. Even laymen like myself have noticed that a borax fuel cell is already on the market, and that small alcohol fuel cells will be out on the shelves shortly.

Has anyone noticed just how little this administration has done to promote biomass, wind, and solar energy? Considering the tens of billions of dollars spent in Iraq and this administration's willingness to perpetuate the fossil fuel economy, this administration's hidden oil (war tax) tax is considerably higher than using solar and wind to supplement our energy supply.

[hatrack]

1. The Bush hydrogen economy "plan" is nothing more than greenwash

He gets to look visionary and all environmentally friendly shoveling hundreds of millions of dollars to private companies for cars & generation systems that won't be broadly available much before 2015, if ever. And whenever anyone questions his stances on energy policy and the environment, he can wheel out his little hydrogen car as "proof" of all that his administration is doing, much as Detroit used PNGV throughout the 1990s as proof of their committment to innovation and efficiency.

In both cases, of course, this political prop will roll down a test track built from taxpayer dollars, but hell, what's a few billion among friends and donors?

On top of that, there's that little problem with hydrogen beging a net energy sink. This makes it rather difficult to base an extremely energy-intensive economy on the promise of fuel cells "someday", even if someday does eventually arrive.

Not that hydrogen doesn't have certain applications that make sense - remote power generation, for example. But Deus Ex Machina H ain't gliding up to save us as an overarching answer to energy problems.

[Vogon_Glory]

2. Too Bloomin' True

You're too bloomin' likely to be correct. I don't see Dubya's alleged hydrogen program to be anything but greenwash for the gullible.

Sounds like his space initiatives.

One of the things I detest about this administration is hoping that some other country will pick up the technology balls deliberately dropped by this administration and run with them. I find myself that some other country will do what it can to help save humanity yet I feel less than patriotic for hoping so.

Interestingly enough, I've noticed that the military doesn't seem quite so closely tied to such energy policy idiocies. They are also experimenting with fuel cells, and I remember that they were doing stuff with solar panels before the Iraq war started.

[brokensymmetry]

3. Ahh, yes, 2015...

That's only 5 or more years after the expected peak oil event.

Life should get really interesting, eh, Hatrack?