Comments on the hydrogen fuel cell as a competitive energy source

There probably has never been a time in the history of energy technology when the issues of energy have been so widely diverse, so widely debated, and for which the future is so uncertain. The hydrogen fuel cell as an electrical energy source is one of many contenders for a place in the sun in our future energy mix. While no one is wise enough to predict accurately how the future energy mix is going to evolve, it is at least possible to raise some of the technical and economic issues that must be faced if the fuel cell is going to be a competitive future electrical energy source of significant impact. How things will actually turn out will probably depend as much or more on geopolitics, environmental considerations, and the structures of economic power as it will on technical considerations alone. The author presents his view of the various factors that will come into play in the determination of a decidedly uncertain energy future.