permaculture

["Michael Murphy" <mmurphy@ctsl.com>]

"Given the level of technolgy and manufacturing required to do *anything* 
with hydrogen as a power source, it will *never* be a locally controllable 
resource."

The innovative capitalist system to the rescue!  Dozens of people are working 
on getting the cost out of small, solar-powered hydrogen generators fed by 
water.  There will be a standard interface to hydrogen cylinders for cars 
that I expect will also be used for stationary power.  The Bush 
Administration is spending $5 billion on hydrogen infrastructure - not 
developing fuel cells, but developing the robotics and interfaces necessary 
to deliver standardized hydrogen cylinder swaps in service stations.  The 
same interface and possibly robotics will be available at home.  Anywhere 
there is sun and water, you will be able to set up a self-contained hydrogen 
generator to fill your cylinders.  Go on a long trip, and you just pull into 
a service station and swap cylinders.  Unlike petroleum and natural gas, it 
will be possible for almost anyone almost anywhere to produce hydrogen.  Or, 
to modify your quote and place it back 30 years to the mainframe era:

"Given the level of technolgy and manufacturing required to do *anything* 
with a computer, it will *never* be a locally controllable resource."