Iceland to wean itself off of fossil fuel

Wojtek Sokolowski sokol at jhu.edu
Thu May 30 15:12:37 PDT 2002


At 02:10 PM 5/30/2002 -0700, Michael Perelman wrote:
>They have been planning this for some time.

Michael, I am not sure how technologically feasible the hydrogen fuel is, but even if it were feasible technologically - it does not seem feasible economically. The reason is "path dependency" -- fossil fuels enjoy enormous advantages over any alternative because the infrastructure for its distribution and use (e.g. the system of gas stations and service facilities specializing in servicing gasoline powered cars) is already in place - but it would have to be built almost from scratch for hydrogen-powered cars.

The idea of hydrogen fuel has been around for some time, but for the reasons mentioned above I am not holding my breath to see hydrogen-powered cars on the streets any time soon. Therefore, the timing of this message seems suspicious.

wojtek



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