The raw materials -- water and sunlight -- are free. The only waste, oxygen, is nonpolluting. And the product is hailed as the mean, green, fuel of the future. Welcome to the hydrogen economy.The premise is sound, but the obstacles are substantial. Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. However, it is shamelessly promiscuous. It will hook up with almost any atom it passes. Like oxygen, in whose sweet embrace it produces water. Or carbon, in whose grubby grope it makes fossil fuels. It doesn't come in a pure form.Currently, the cost of producing hydrogen fuel is greater than the value of the energy it delivers. Production entails either electrolysis in water or extraction of hydrogen from fossil fuels like natural gas.But as scientists worldwide race to find cheaper ways to produce hydrogen, last week teams from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia announced some major advances."I think it is indisputable that it is a race because the people who develop the IP (intellectual property) that works will be the OPEC of the future," said professor Christopher Sorrel, a director of the Centre for Materials and Energy Conversion at the University of New South Wales.Last week, Sorrel and colleagues promised advanced materials developed in their lab would lead to a commercial solar panel in seven years that would produce cheap hydrogen from water, a production method known as solar hydrogen.
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