Will hydrogen always be the fuel of the future?

There has been much debate in recent years about the prospects for a hydrogen-based energy economy. Dr Jon Moore of Intelligent Energy is very bullish (see Energy World February 2009), while others are convinced that losses in the energy conversion chain are fatal to hydrogen's prospects. And the emergence of much-heralded fuel cells into commercial use does seem very slow. Here, David Strahan looks at recent developments and weighs the arguments.