Over the next 10–20 years, motor vehicles and trains powered by carbon-free hydrogen fuel cells could become commonplace. With limits on greenhouse gas emissions looming and with their streets choked with exhaust, Japan and other energy-importing East Asian nations are already searching abroad for sources of readily usable hydrogen.
If renewable energy is to supplant fossil fuels on a global scale, wind and solar power from nations with abundant resources will need to be moved across oceans to energy-poor countries. Hydrogen, which can be cleanly burned or used to generate electricity in fuel cells, is a convenient energy carrier—a clean alternative to liquefied natural gas.
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