In a response to Duncan Macleod’s article “Oil industry ramps up for hydrogen vehicles,” Thomas Wyman argues that hydrogen will never be more than a “boutique fuel” (OGJ, Dec. 8, 2008, p. 26; Jan. 19, 2009, p. 14). I would say that Mr. Wyman is correct if and only if we live in a world void from the laws of physics that Albert Einstein discovered.
It is a simple and undisputable fact that the energy from the fission of one atom of uranium emits about 10,000,000 times the energy one gets from burning one atom of coal. This observation is leading the US and other countries in the world that comprise the Generation IV International Forum (GIF) to utilize the waste heat from very high-temperature nuclear reactors to economically make hydrogen from water. These “very high-temperature” nuclear reactors are called Gen-IV for being the fourth generation of nuclear reactor design. Of course the advantage to creating energy by consuming hydrogen in an oxygen environment is that your waste product is water.
I do not mean to imply that this Gen-IV technology can be utilized either tomorrow or even in 10 years. However, if the US and world will commit the required resources, this technology can be fully developed to not only safely generate electricity but also simultaneously and economically make hydrogen from water plus also desalinate brackish waters. This hydrogen could first be used to make synthetic hydrocarbons to fuel our existing internal combustion engines until the hydrogen fuel cell economy is fully established.
As Americans, let’s stop living in the dark ages and open our eyes to the possibilities that available technologies can provide.
James F. Wright, PhD
Director, HT3R Project
University of Texas of the Permian Basin
Odessa, Tex.
