The Car of His Dreams

Deck: 
Amory Lovins says gas prices won't stick, but even if they do, he's still stuck on his Hypercar.
Fortnightly Magazine - February 15 2001
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Amory Lovins says gas prices won't stick, but even if they do, he's still stuck on his Hypercar.

This just in—if you can believe Amory Lovins, who has the news posted on the network of Web sites sponsored by his Rocky Mountain Institute.

Sheikh Yamani, the Saudi oil minister for a quarter century up until 1986, reportedly stated last July, according to Britain's , that world oil prices will plummet in this decade, due in no small part to competition from hydrogen-powered fuel cells.

"This is coming before the end of the decade and will cut gasoline consumption by almost 100 percent," Yamani is quoted as saying, in warning of potential economic consequences for Saudi Arabia.

"Thirty years from now there will be a huge amount of oil, and no buyers. ... Thirty years from now ... oil will be left in the ground."

Is this legit? Even those who believe in the benefits of a hydrogen-based economy might question how the energy industry could possibly make such a transition. Yet Lovins has ready answers for would-be critics.

To Lovins, an early proponent of renewables, conservation and "negawatts," that car of yours sitting out in the middle of your office parking lot could become a 20-kilowatt fuel cell generator, but only if it's built light enough and efficient enough to be able to run the fuel cell off of its own onboard hydrogen gas storage tank. Once that's possible, there's no need to first construct an interstate hydrogen gas pipeline, since the building where it's parked would produce its own hydrogen from natural gas, and pipe it to vehicles sitting in the parking lot with little more fanfare than an upgraded garden hose.

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