The search for increasingly environmentally-friendly mobility and independence from fossil fuels has led to the search for the fuel of the future.

To ensure both environmentally-friendly mobility and a smooth changeover to a long-term supply of renewable energy, the fuel used must be fully sustainable. This means that it has to be suitable for ongoing regeneration in a constant cycle. It must also fulfil a whole range of economic and other criteria. Experts have found a source of energy able to reach this ideal: hydrogen.

Hydrogen stands out clearly from fossil sources of energy by the fact that its manufacture and use can be embedded in a regenerating, natural cycle. Hydrogen can be made from renewable sources of energy such as solar, wind, water and biomass (and further possibilities of hydrogen production are being researched intensively in research institutes); it could be available in virtually unlimited quantities. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions would come only from the manufacture of the equipment required to produce the hydrogen, with almost no emissions produced when the hydrogen is used.

The advantages of hydrogen are clear. As well as reducing global warming and local pollutants:

• Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe. As a component of water and all organic compounds it is a part of the natural cycle. The non-toxic, colourless and odourless gas has an energy 'density' which is unrivalled by other fuels - one kilo of hydrogen contains three times as much energy as a kilo of oil
• Hydrogen can be efficiently transported and stored and therefore helps tackle supply and demand issues
• Hydrogen is extremely suitable for a decentralised energy supply
• Hydrogen could replace petrol in internal combustion vehicle engines as well as powering fuel cells that could replace batteries whose chemicals cause re-cycling issues.

Developments are moving so fast in this field that it can be strongly argued that the hydrogen age has already begun. However, there are many hurdles to overcome on the way to hydrogen becoming a major energy source of the future - new technologies have to be developed, tested and go into production, their efficiency and profitability have to be ensured as well as gaining a broad customer acceptance before market entry, and a viable infrastructure needs to be structured.