The World in 2030

The World in 2030 225
of political power in the world. Rifkin also asserts that a
shift to a distributed energy production model would be
enormously beneficial in the fight against climate change:
A wholesale shift away from centralized power generation
using fossil-fuel energy to hydrogen-powered
fuel cells operating on a distributed generation
grid – especially if the hydrogen is produced
by using solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal forms
of energy – could more dramatically reduce CO 2
emission that could any other single development
currently being pursued. 433
But as desirable as distributed energy generation may seem,
hydrogen power is still at the beginning of its development.
Hydrogen as a fuel for automobiles and trucks is likely to
be the first widespread application of the clean technology.
The environmental website commutercars.com is confident
about the benefits of hydrogen as a fuel for transport:
The best pollution-free alternative to batteries while
still using clean electric motors is the hydrogen fuel
cell. Hydrogen-powered fuel cells hold enormous
promise as a power source for a future generation
of cars.
Hydrogen is consumed by a pollution-free chemical
reaction – not combustion – in a fuel cell. The fuel
cell simply combines hydrogen and oxygen chemically
to produce electricity, water, and waste heat.
Nothing else. 434