I daresay that, even as readers of this petroleum-oriented journal, most of us would like to see hydrogen become an economically viable transportation fuel that could supplement traditional automotive fuels. However, Duncan Macleod in his article “Oil industry ramps up for hydrogen vehicles” offers us little encouragement (OGJ, Dec. 8, 2008, p. 26). He writes glowingly of hydrogen as an ideal, pollution-free fuel, which cannot be denied, but he does not address the issue of the cost of the energy required to produce the hydrogen necessary to fuel the vaunted hydrogen economy. The laws of thermodynamics are the problem. It simply takes more energy to extract hydrogen from water...