That is not entirely correct.  Taking H from water, for instance,
requires more energy than it gives out when it recombines back into
water, as you state.

However, nearly all modern fuels are hydrocarbons, and it takes
significantly less energy to break hydrogen from, say, methane, propane,
even liquid fuels such as diesel and gasoline than it takes to break it
from water.

The crackers they use to break heavier oils up to lighter fuels could
probably be modified to produce a larger amount of hydrogen than they
currently do.

Many fuel cells in the near future will depend on two major systems, one
to break gas piped to the home up into hydrogen, and the actual fuel
cell that uses the hydrogen.

Methane and other fuels can be produced from bacteria and rotting
vegitation, so it is possible to have cheaply acquired hydrogen.

And if there were a larger market for it (as I suspect there may be in
the future) then someone would come up with an even cheaper way to
produce it.

You can think of hydrogen as merely energy storage, but you might as
well go all the way to defining your base (zero) state (such as water)
and saying that anything that can be broken down to the zero state and
give off energy is energy storage and therefore dangerous.  Hydrogen is
simply at a very high potential with reference to the ground state, and
has a much stronger reaction when brought to the ground state - that's
what makes it dangerous, but also exactly why it's so much more useful
than other 'energy storage' materials which are at a much lower
potential.  It's like comparing lithium ion rechargable batteries with
nicad.  They tend to be more fragile to overcharging, and it's difficult
to get them bare without assuring the manufacturer that you know how to
handle them - but their density is so much larger that I doubt the
venerable nicad will be around for more than a few years.

-Adam

Brooke Clarke wrote:

>Hydrogen is not a source of energy.  It is an energy storage method like a battery.  You can not drill into the ground and get hydrogen.  The energy you get by burning hydrogen is about the same as the energy it takes to separate the hydrogen out of water.
>
>All the energy storage methods are dangerous in that they contain energy that might be released in an accident.  Whether it's a battery, a gyroscope, liquid fuel or a fuel gas they all contain energy.
>
>Have Fun,
>
>Brooke Clarke
>http://www.prc68.com
>
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