Tomorrows Energy: Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and the Prospects for a Cleaner Planet Book

Forget the Hindenburg. Though some of us think of devastating bombs and burning zeppelins when we hear the word "hydrogen", visionaries such as Peter Hoffmann think of clear skies and safer roads. His book Tomorrow's Energy traces the history of the volatile gas and explores options for its use as fuel. Though he can't avoid using some technical language, his writing should still appeal far beyond the community of automotive and power-plant engineers. His coverage, though fairly balanced, tends toward the positive efforts made by government, corporations, environmentalists, and scientists to promote hydrogen as a clean, relatively safe and potentially cheap alternative to carbon-heavy fuels. Though party-line Greens might gasp at some of the suggested schemes--including limited nuclear power in some places to generate hydrogen from water--Hoffman convincingly assures the reader that ultimately the planet will be better off this way. Many will be surprised at how far hydrogen has advanced since serious research restarted during the 1970s fuel crisis--the range of cars, planes, and power networks using the gas for power storage is impressive and underreported. Though he makes his case for hydrogen as a means of powering our lives, Hoffman also shows off its uses in medicine, agriculture, metallurgy, and other fields. Using economic data, he shows that we can expect to live in a hydrogen economy sometime mid-century; if so, we can breathe a collective, CO2-laden sigh of relief. --Rob LightnerRead More