Powering The Future

Hybrids seem to be the "it" thing at the moment and to be brutally honest, I can't see why. This whole idea about saving the environment is very important, but how much saving are you actually doing with your eco-box? If you were to look beyond all the hype, I'd say not much. Of course you'll use less gas than a normal car, but in the real world, you will struggle to get the claimed numbers. And what about that battery? The nickel for a Prius battery is first mined in Canada at a location known as the "smoke stack", where there is no significant form of life for approximately three miles due to the pollution. Then it must be shipped to Europe and refined, then on to China and Japan for final production. The battery does more miles before being put in the car than you'll do in the first year, not to mention all the pollution along the way. Disposal of the battery is another issue, they are extremely expensive and I doubt the acid will recycle well. Electric cars powered by batteries alone are just as bad, only even more impractical. The range is extremely limited and charging stations are far and few between. But remember, when you do find a charging station, where is that electricity coming from to power your "save the world" car? It's coming from a massive power plant, burning an enormous amount of fossil fuel and throwing more carbon dioxide into the air than the "saved" plants can convert. People buy into the hype too much and overlook some possible options. Diesel power is just as economical as a hybrid but with almost none of the drawbacks. I think diesel is hugely underrated and the demand for diesel powered cars in the United States should be greatly increased. It is a very useful power plant. Yes, you are still using fuel, but you are in a hybrid as well. All of these options are only temporary fixes as I see it. To me, there is one clear choice to save us all, hydrogen. The Honda FCX Clarity is absolutely brilliant and the rest of the world needs to get on board with what Honda is doing because it is near perfect. It uses an electric motor, but it is powered by hydrogen, not a battery. The only waste product is water, and it doesn't need to be charged. You simply go to a gas station and fill it up like a normal car with compressed hydrogen which is man-made and inexhaustible. The way I see it, everything that is powered by a gasoline engine can be replaced with a hydrogen drive. It is a new technology so quirks would need to be dealt with, but once moved past that, the possibilities would be endless. Airplanes, trains, ships, trucks and cars would never need fossil fuels again. The fuel crisis would be over and the environment would thrive. I am a massive petrol head and I'll want the sports car to never die, but with this new hydrogen power, I think the sports car would be preserved. This was an observation Jay Leno made and I think it is absolutely spot on. The time is now for hydrogen to power the future, the world and future generations desperately need it.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3V3trzcKQk