In a bid to be able to drive his Hummer even further - being one of the two or three people on the entire planet to own a
private hydrogen Hummer, Arnold Schwarzenegger stopped groping long enough, in
2004 to announce a hydrogen highway
by 2010.
Now, it my opinion that these prepositional phrases beginning with "by," are intended mostly to allow people to
avoid reality for a few weeks, to distract attention from what they're
really doing.
Hydrogen, because of it's low critical temperature, low viscosity, and the nature of its invisibly burning flame is
completely absurd as a motor fuel - not that the term "completely ridiculous" means all that much in energy conversations, given the kinds of things one hears these days.
http://www.wired.com/news/autotech/0,2554,63145,00.htmlBut the steroid crazed Governor is
used to getting away with things: His audience, in general, is known for suspending its fondness for reality. And so he has announced a $90 million dollar "hydrogen highway" so he, and the other two people in California who have hydrogen fueled vehicles can drive a longer distance than one fill up will provide.
Well, we're more than two years down the road on the promise that was supposed to involve a six year time line.
The progress on this project is what? Does anybody know? Is it just
another all talk and little action promise or has ground been broken, have contracts been signed, plants and pipelines constructed? Has a
renewable source for the hydrogen been developed or is it the plan to run a few trucks from a natural gas fueled reformer? If the latter is the case, does the Governor plan to store the CO
2 generated from hydrogen production in a big balloon dragged down the "hydrogen highway" by his big Hummer? Finally, has Governor Hydrogen Hummer announced the
price of this hydrogen? Have
tens of thousands of orders for hydrogen fueled vehicles been announced or will it be enough if there is just the Governor's hydrogen hummer and two Ford Escorts with giant fuel tanks in their trunks?
What about
safety training? Any of that going on?