This year crude oil hit a new 21 year high ($55.67 in late October) and is still up about 30% on the start of 2004. OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) nations have increased production to 25-year highs to meet global demand and crude production capacity is once again under pressure. Uncertainty remains. Prices in the near future could be pushed even higher. Once more the topic of alternative energies is on the table. Of particular interest is the reappearance of the vision dubed the "hydrogen economy". The first incarnation occured in the early 1970s, introduced then by the Institute for Nuclear Energy in Vienna. Today, three key elements revive this concept: 1) a growing concern over the future supply and price of oil; 2) the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on climate change; and 3) the recent technological evolutions in hydrogen-powered fuel cells.

Governments around the globe are buying into this second phase of a hydrogen economy. The Icelandic government adopted a hydrogen policy in 1998. The lack of fossil fuels, in this country, has driven efforts to discover alternative fuels and created a vision of a carbon-free future. Iceland is in the fortunate situation of being able to produce hydrogen in situ, based on Geyser produced electricity. In the United States, President Bush announced a $1.2 billion hydrogen fuel initiative on January 28th, 2003. He declared that: "With a new national commitment, our scientists and engineers will overcome obstacles to taking these cars from laboratory to showroom so that the first car driven by a child born today could be powered by hydrogen, and pollution-free." This long-term strategic view of energy sounds almost perfect.

Today, hydrogen is a popular alternate energy choice because it can be produced from diverse energy sources and does not emit carbon dioxide at the point of use. However, hydrogen, like electricity, is not an energy source but an energy carrier. Many questions remain as to whether hydrogen is a certain venture. How will the reserves of hydrogen be produced? Can adequate storage be developed? What will be the cost of transporting, storing and distributing hydrogen? Is carbon dioxide production only being shifted further away from public view? And from a general town planning perspective: How will the hydrogen refuelling infrastructure be implemented?

Some of these questions are addressed by the websites linked to this page. To achieve a balanced perspective of the hydrogen car debate a sample of web sites were selected from a variety type of organisations: for-profit, not-for profit, non-governmental, governmental, etc.