Tony Smith wrote:

> I'm sure there's a number out there some about how efficient petrol is, that
> is the total cost from finding, extracting, refining etc, but I figure it's
> a fair way on the positive side.  

It's almost for sure on the positive side, but where?

> Its main advantage is it's a very compact energy store, and easy to
> handle.  

I'd say the main advantage is that we have an infrastructure in place and
that nobody has been fired yet for buying gasoline :)

> Oil is like me giving you a dollar, and getting 5 back.  

Aha, so you do seem to have an efficiency number. Do you have a reliable
source for this, too?

> There's nothing inherently wrong with running a car on hydrogen, except
> for the fact hydrogen is a bit hard to come by.  

Well, unless you mean by "come by" go buy gasoline at the station ("Mami,
where does the milk come from?" - "From the market, you silly!"), it's
probably harder to come by than hydrogen. The facility is somewhat an
illusion, created by the wide availability. Which is not the same. The
availability is created by an infrastructure we've been building for a
century. I'm not sure you (or anyone else) has a clear view of the whole
infrastructure cost.

Gerhard

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