The Hidden Benefits of Expensive Gas

Gas is expensive right now. I know, I'm American, and so any non-American who may happen across this is going to laugh boisterously at me. But remember. The American dollar is also worth precious little at the moment. From my strangely delusional perspective, I am annoyed when people talk about having to make ecologically conscious decisions, such as not driving 3 feet to the store, because gas is expensive rather than because using gas is wasteful or bad for the ecology.

So, this story in the Chicago Tribune really caught my attention on Digg. It's the Honda FCX Clarity, a zero-emission vehicle. It's a hydrogen fuel cell/electric car. At the moment it's pretty expensive, apparently, though the article neglects to mention the MSRP, and there are only 3 fueling stations in existence.

The existence of this vehicle brings me a little hope, but also raises some questions. I'm hopeful because an auto manufacturer is actually releasing a car (not a hybrid) that is completely different. The car also looks pretty decent, which is a nice fringe benefit. But as I said, I have questions (as I always do). The biggest question I have is, "What is the energy cost of producing the fuel?" Creating Hydrogen, if I'm not mistaken, is a high-energy process. Is it worse for the ecology to create the fuel? If so, we might as well use gas. This article at howstuffworks.com addresses this issue, and draws the same conclusions, but takes it a step further to discuss gathering energy for either the electrolysis of water or the reformer production of hydrogen from fossil fuels. It's a good read.

Anyway, I'm intrigued at not needing to purchase gas, and I think this might be the first major step (other than hybrid vehicles) in moving completely away from mass distribution gasoline. I'm excited. Now I hope that this trend spreads. I know it won't be for the right reasons, but I'm just going to have to live with that. Oh, the hidden benefits of expensive gas...