When looking for something to replace our finite fossil fuel resources in satisfying the energy needs of the world, why not consider an alternative energy that will never run out?

And why not start with the most common element all of nature–hydrogen?

The reality is that hydrogen is already in use for mass transportation vehicles–busses and fleets of city vehicles that don’t have to travel far from their home bases. A few car manufacturers also looking at alternative energy have created concept cars which run on hydrogen.

And in 2003, the Bush Administration announced a $1.2 billion government initiative to develop hydrogen fuel as an alternative to gasoline.

Although most of the hydrogen in use today is derived from the fossil fuel, natural gas, should supplies of natural gas eventually run out, hydrogen can be produced simply by running an electrical current through ordinary water, which separates into its two components, hydrogen and oxygen.

When used as an alternative energy fuel in gasoline engines, hydrogen produces heat, water vapor, and insignificant amounts of nitrogen oxide because the air being burned with it is about 67% nitrogen.

One of the big advantages of hydrogen as producer of alternative energy is that, unlike fossil fuels, it is not carbon-based. So it does not emit any carbon dioxide, believed to be a major contributor to global warming, when it burns.

But there are significant hurdles that hydrogen will have to overcome before it can honestly be proclaimed as the alternative energy successor to gasoline.

Hydrogen, in its natural state, is a gas–and if it is to be stored in quantities large enough to make it practical an alternative energy, has to be compressed. Compressed hydrogen as an alternative energy has less energy density than its liquid counterpart, gasoline. And the expense of maintaining it under the high pressures and cold temperatures required to liquefy it decreases its commercial appeal.

Still, with its clean burning and nearly infinite abundance, and the possibility of cheaper storage methods, hydrogen is one of the favorites to win the race for an alternative energy gasoline replacement.