L'imbroglio idrogeno

Esce in questi giorni un articolo di Robert Zubrin sul "The New Atlantis" intitolato "The Hydrogen Hoax" (L'imbroglio idrogeno).

L'articolo è una demolizione pezzo per pezzo di tutti i concetti che stanno dietro l'idea, ancora tenacemente popolare, che i combustibili fossili potrebbero in qualche modo essere sostitutiti con l'idrogeno e che in questo modo otterremmo un mondo migliore.

Non tutto è perfetto in questo articolo, alcuni dettagli sono criticabili e l'autore non da nessuno spazio a interpretazioni diverse dalle sue. Ma, nel complesso, Zubrin colpisce nel segno non una volta, ma parecchie. Solo il calcolo di quanto costerebbe il sistema motore + pile a combustibile per un veicolo è quello che gli americani chiamano "reality check" e che in italiano forse potremmo tradurre come "un bagno di realtà". Quando Zubrin ti dimostra che parliamo di un milione di dollari per tutto l'ambaradan di un'automobile in grado di avere prestazioni pari a quelle di un veicolo attuale, la cosa è preoccupante, come minimo. Più che altro è preoccupante per la sanità mentale di quelli che continuano a sostenere che le auto a idrogeno sono una buona idea. (ah.. considerate anche che l'efficienza dei un veicolo del genere sarebbe inferiore a quella di un veicolo attuale e che, comunque, sarebbe impossibile a rifornire in pratica)

Se masticate bene l'inglese, leggetelo con attenzione. Se qualcuno avesse tempo e voglia di tradurlo, andrebbe fatto leggere ai nostri politici


Nearly everyone in American politics believes we face an energy crisis, and nearly everyone believes we need a technological solution that will make America “energy independent.” Americans are, as President Bush put it in his 2006 State of the Union address, “addicted to oil,” and in this case our addiction is enriching and empowering those who seek to destroy us. We are funding, if indirectly, the madrassahs that teach vile hatred of Western civilization and the backward cultures that create death-seeking soldiers for Islam. We are, if unwittingly, arming those who wish to kill us.

To cure this self-destructive addiction, the Bush administration has placed a major bet on the so-called “hydrogen economy,” both in policy and in rhetoric. Former Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham laid out this vision, in rhapsodic language, in 2002:

Hydrogen can fuel much more than cars and light trucks, our area of interest. It can also fuel ships, airplanes, and trains. It can be used to generate electricity, for heating, and as a fuel for industrial processes. We envision a future economy in which hydrogen is America’s clean energy choice—flexible, affordable, safe, domestically produced, used in all sectors of the economy, and in all regions of the country.... Imagine a world running on hydrogen later in this century: Environmental pollution will no longer be a concern. Every nation will have all the energy it needs available within its borders. Personal transportation will be cheaper to operate and easier to maintain. Economic, financial, and intellectual resources devoted today to acquiring adequate energy resources and to handling environmental issues will be turned to other productive tasks for the benefit of the people. Life will get better.

In 2003, President Bush reaffirmed this vision, offering a presidential primer on the scientific, economic, and foreign-policy dimensions of hydrogen power:

The sources of hydrogen are abundant. The more you have of something relative to demand for that, the cheaper it’s going to be, the less expensive it’ll be for the consumer.... Hydrogen power is also clean to use. Cars that will run on hydrogen fuel produce only water, not exhaust fumes.... One of the greatest results of using hydrogen power, of course, will be energy independence for this nation.... If we develop hydrogen power to its full potential, we can reduce our demand for oil by over 11 million barrels per day by the year 2040.

It certainly sounds great. Hydrogen, after all, is “the most common element in the universe,” as Secretary Abraham pointed out. Since it is so plentiful, surely President Bush must be right when he promises it will be cheap. And when you use it, the waste product will be nothing but water—“environmental pollution will no longer be a concern.” Hydrogen will be abundant, cheap, and clean. Why settle for anything less?

Unfortunately, it’s all pure bunk. To get serious about energy policy, America needs to abandon, once and for all, the false promise of the hydrogen age.


The complete article





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