There has been a lot of interest in eventually replacing gasoline with hydrogen

Question

There has been a lot of interest in eventually replacing gasoline with hydrogen gas as a clean and efficient automobile fuel. Although hydrogen gas is very efficient and produces no emissions, large-scale conversion of automobile use from gasoline to hydrogen gas using current technology would actually be quite inefficient and costly, and may not reduce carbon dioxide emissions significantly. How can you explain this apparent contradiction? There has been a lot of interest in eventually replacing gasoline with hydrogen gas as a clean and efficient automobile fuel. Although hydrogen gas is very efficient and produces no emissions, large-scale conversion of automobile use from gasoline to hydrogen gas using current technology would actually be quite inefficient and costly, and may not reduce carbon dioxide emissions significantly. How can you explain this apparent contradiction?

Explanation / Answer

hydrogen at the moment is made by reacting steam with coal or natural gas - both non-renewable resources and produce carbon dioxide.

Hydrogen can also be made by passing electricity through water. But most electricity is generated using coal and other fossil fuels, so pollution from burning these fuels happens at the power station. Pollution therefore still occurs.

Also liquification and storage of hydrogen is difficult task, therefore hydrogen gas is very efficient and produces no emissions, large-scale conversion of automobile use from gasoline to hydrogen gas using current technology would actually be quite inefficient  

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