I hate to sound like a cynical environmentalist, but the world right now is in a state where fuel has become a paucity (scarce). We have such a need for energy that were using whatever's mechanically edible. Hydrogen will last a while, perhaps a decade or two...then we'll go on to the next...*sigh*.

The obvious solution to our world's energy needs is solar power. Clean, "renewable" in the sense that it would take the Sun exploding or cooling for it to go away, and usable over most of the Earth's surface. However, there remain areas of the world in which solar power will not work or where solar power would be less effective. As the Earth is mostly water, using the nearly-free solar energy to convert water into hydrogen and oxygen would allow hydrogen fuel tanks to be shipped anywhere in the world where solar power is inadequate to the task of producing energy. Right now most hydrogen is produced using fossil fuels, but if that fuel cost was replaced with solar energy, the main objections (fuel cost and environmental damage) would simply vanish. Solar-generated hydrogen uses up no rainforests to grow (ethanol), spills into the atmosphere with a minimum of impact, takes no food out of the mouths of human beings (ethanol), and produces nothing more than water as its "emissions." Hydrogen has been highly-regarded as an alternative fuel as a part of an overall *switch* to energy from alternatives to fossil fuels. In combination with solar power, hydrogen will allow the shipping of "solar energy" to the darkest areas of the Earth, as well as storing up solar energy for power generation at night.