Book Review: The Hydrogen Economy

"So, it's a fiction book?" Those were the words of a good friend of mine, when I told her I was reading The Hydrogen Economy. We both laughed at the time, but as I got further into the book, I began to think that perhaps she was more right than she or I realized at the time.

Going in, I really wanted to like this book. I felt that the subject matter was important and needed to be dealt with as such. Unfortunately, as I went through the book I had a few issues, not the least of which was that the discussion of the use of hydrogen as an energy source did not really get underway until page 176 of the 253 page book. Below I detail some of the problems I had with the book, broken up by section.

Background

· The History of the World: It seems to be somewhat self-aggrandizing in a book about energy to describe the quest for energy as the reason behind all culture and civilization. Perhaps it’s just me, but that somehow seems short-sited and neglectful of any contribution ever made that did not directly contribute to the collection of or more efficient use of energy. Not only this, but the lack of energy is the reason behind the fall of any civilization. Germany was destined to lose World War I and II because they did not have enough energy. So, now we are running out of oil and this will mean the end of civilization as we know it. Right…at least we know ahead of time.

· Islam and Oil: Yes, most of the world’s oil reserves are in predominantly Islamic nations. Yes, the Middle East will likely possess the last of the useable oil in the coming decades. Both are valid and important points. There are still a few problems here. First, while Rifkin does seem to be aware of it based on portions of his book, someone should probably make sure he remembers that not all followers of Islam are extremists bent on global destruction. Also, he seems to be unsure about what to think about the instability of the Middle East. At one point he seems to be leaning toward the democratization of the region, then he changes course and, using the example of Algeria, points out that conversion to democracy would likely put fundamentalist groups in control of at least some Middle Eastern governments. In addition, he points out that the Middle East is instable and that the governments are only able to do anything because of the power given to them by their oil reserves. He fails to see that the switch to a new non-oil based economy could quite possibly cause desperation and destabilize things even more in a region that feels that the West marginalizes it’s relevance save for it’s ability to produce the much needed oil.

· Terrorism: The book was written very soon after the September 11th attacks, and published in 2002. The section on terrorism seems to almost be thrown in to give some sort of urgency, and never really connects with anything having to do with the need to switch to a hydrogen-based economy. This was not a “handful of determined terrorists” as he claims, but a large network that spent time and resources preparing. While I’m sure the author felt that the idea that any person or small group of people can bring a nation to its knees is frightening, I believe that the reality is disturbing enough. In addition, he goes on to talk about bioterrorism, which feels even more out of place than the previous section. Once again, he tries to make the concept seem even more frightening than they truly are, by implying that anyone with knowledge of “the rudimentary uses of recombinant DNA and cloning technology” can set up their own designer bioweapon factory in the backyard. Well, as one who has some knowledge of recombinant DNA and cloning technology, I say I don’t think it’s going to be quite that easy.

· Global Warming: Please do not misunderstand what I’m about to say, because I do feel that it is very important that we pay attention to what we are doing to the biosphere. That stipulation aside, this section was so alarmist that I felt I was back in the theater watching The Day After Tomorrow again. (For the record, I wouldn’t watch it again, but I did learn a couple of important things from it: 1. If the climate changes dramatically, and temperatures are instantly falling to a couple hundred degrees below zero, shut the door. It seems that extreme temperatures are stopped completely by public library doors. 2. If the climate changes suddenly, watch out for the wolves from the zoo. They are probably going to escape and look for people to kill.) I really don’t know what else to say about this section. A fairly important issue ends up being marginalized by over-dramatization.

· Entropy: This really is an issue throughout the entire book. If it were not for the fact that Mr. Rifkin had already co-authored a book titled Entropy, I would suspect that he had just discovered the word and was attempting to assimilate it into his vocabulary. The concept is so overused that I worry I might actually resort to violence if I ever hear anyone use the phrase “the entropy bill” again.

Hydrogen and Energy

· The Perpetual Motion Machine: Or, as he terms it, “The Forever Fuel.” The author really seems to gloss over the difference between hydrogen as an energy source and hydrogen as an energy store. Hydrogen is not found freely enough in nature to be an energy source. We must first find a way to convert another compound (ideally water) into elemental hydrogen. This requires energy. The question then is where does that energy come from? The key here is to view the Earth not as a closed system, but as an open system with energy coming in from outside. Harnessing renewable, natural energy sources, like solar energy, is the key to removing dependence on fossil fuels. Hydrogen is simply the way to store that energy in a readily useable form. (On a side note: As a microbiologist, I find it somewhat amusing that we are so enthralled by the concept of storing energy in hydrogen, since cells function by storing and converting energy in ways that include the H2/H+ redox cycle and formation of electrochemical gradients across cell membranes. Sorry, just had to wax nerdy for a moment. Back to the task at hand, then.) Rifkin spends only a small portion of the time dealing with what is the real obstacle to overcome. He goes from being overly alarmist in the early sections of the book to overly optimistic when discussing the wonders of the hydrogen economy. One of the benefits of moving to a hydrogen economy is that there are no real waste products. The reaction produces energy and pure, drinkable water, which he touts as extremely important in currently developing nations, which currently have limited access to pure water. This caused a bit of confusion for me, because wasn’t pure water (with the addition of an electrolyte) what you were using to create the hydrogen in the first place?

· The HEW (Hydrogen Energy Web): The author suggests that the switch to a hydrogen based energy system and utilization of fuel cell should also bring about free or almost free energy to all people. He even compares the HEW to the WWW and peer-to-peer file sharing systems. While I think the idea of free energy to all is wonderful, I have my doubts about the willingness of the companies who will invest in the creation of the system to give anything away for free, and the idea of “H2-ster” is slightly less than believable.

I was looking forward to reading this book. I wanted it to be something that could help explain the need to move away from dependence on the Middle East for the backbone of our economy and toward a different energy system. The book held my interest throughout and the author made some very compelling points, but unfortunately I had too many issues to feel anything other than disappointed.

The Verdict: 1.5 Stars (Shrug) Ehh…

Until later...