Recent advances in fuel-cell technology (or, more likely, sudden awareness on the part of the press) have prompted The Economist (Oct. 25, 1997) to title an article optimistically, "The third age of fuel: Just as coal gave way to oil, oil may now give way to hydrogen." Nothing of the sort is happening.
The hydrogen used in fuel cells normally comes from either natural gas or gasoline, but the commentators at The Economist imagine that the hydrogen would be extracted from biomass! But they also underestimate the resistance from self-styled "environmentalists." These people who regard humans as nothing more than a source of protein for mountain lions have a long history of opposing large-scale farming for food. How likely are they to approve large-scale farming for energy?
