Lately it has become a matter of conventional wisdom that hydrogen will solve many of our energy and environmental problems. Nearly everyone -- environmentalists, mainstream media commentators, industry analysts, General Motors, and even President Bush -- seems to expect emission-free hydrogen fuel cells to ride to the rescue in a matter of years, or at most a decade or two. Not so fast, says Joseph Romm. In The Hype about Hydrogen, he explains why hydrogen isn't the quick technological fix it's cracked up to be, and why cheering for fuel cells to sweep the market is not a viable strategy for combating climate change. Buildings and factories powered by fuel cells may indeed become common after 2010, Joseph Romm argues, but when it comes to transportation, the biggest source of greenhouse-gas emissions, hydrogen is unlikely to have a significant impact before 2050. The Hype about Hydrogen offers a hype-free explanation of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies, takes a hard look at the practical difficulties of transitioning to a hydrogen economy, and reveals why, given increasingly strong evidence of the gravity of climate change, neither government policy nor business investment should be based on the belief that hydrogen cars will have meaningful commercial success in the near or medium term. Romm, who helped run the federal government's program on hydrogen and fuel cells during the Clinton administration, provides a provocative primer on the politics, business, and technology of hydrogen and climate protection.

As the world accelerates towards a renewable energy transition, the demand for critical raw materials (CRMs) for energy generation, conversion, and storage technologies is seeing a drastic increase. Such materials are not only subject to limited supply and extreme price volatility but can also represent serious burdens to the environment, to human health, and also to socio-political systems. Taking an interdisciplinary perspective, this book provides a novel perspective on the discussion about material dependencies of energy technologies. It examines CRMs use in fuel cells, an emerging energy conversion technology, and discusses governance strategies for early-stage fuel cell development to predict and avoid potential issues. This will be an invaluable resource for researchers in energy studies, engineering, sociology and political science as well as those with a general interest in this field looking for an accessible overview.

The manner in which we produce & consume energy is of crucial importance to sustainable development, as energy has deep relationships with each of its three dimensions -- the economy, the environment & social welfare. These relationships develop in a fast-moving & complex situation characterized by increasing globalisation, growing market liberalisation & new technologies, as well as by growing concerns about climate change & energy-supply security. In order to make energy an integral part of sustainable development, new policies need to be developed. Such policies must strike a balance among the three dimensions of sustainable development. They must reduce our exposure to large-scale risk. The IEA has synthesized a number of experiences with policies aimed to promote sustainable development. These experiences are reported in seven subject chapters on energy supply security, market reform, improving energy efficiency, renewable energies, sustainable transport, flexibility mechanisms for greenhouse gas reductions & on non-Member countries.

Given the backdrop of intense interest and widespread discussion on the prospects of a hydrogen energy economy, this book aims to provide an authoritative and up-to-date scientific account of hydrogen generation using solar energy and renewable sources such as water. While the technological and economic aspects of solar hydrogen generation are evolving, the scientific principles underlying various solar-assisted water splitting schemes already have a firm footing. This book aims to expose a broad-based audience to these principles. This book spans the disciplines of solar energy conversion, electrochemistry, photochemistry, photoelectrochemistry, materials chemistry, device physics/engineering, and biology.

Since the mid-1990s, the emergence of a hydrogen economy and the speed with which it will arrive have been vigorously debated. As a disruptive technology, dominant designs for the production, storage and distribution of hydrogen have not yet been established. Neither have performance characteristics been achieved to compete with the existing combustion engine, though the efficiency and durability of hydrogen fuel cells are improving. This publication highlights the uncertainties involved in making choices about hydrogen and fuel cells in planning the development policies on national energy, environment and transport sector.--Publisher's description.