It’s a debate that probably should have been going on when Henry Ford began mass-producing motorized vehicles and when Thomas Edison invented the electric light bulb in the early 20th century. Given that we have a growing number of people owning cars in more places around the world and then a finite resource in oil, it was inevitable that a crisis would come in various forms. Of all the technological challenges facing our world and affecting our daily lives, this energy source dilemma, along with perhaps cancer treatment, might be the biggest. The question is what are your alternatives to things like oil and coal and then how far along are we in finding a viable alternative. The short answer is yes, there are alternatives, but how far we are from making them a reality depends on who you ask.

One of the main options when it comes to alternative fuel to power things like cars is a hydrogen fuel cell. A fuel cell converts the chemicals hydrogen and oxygen into water, producing electricity in the process. Basically you are producing energy in the form of electricity and the only by-product is water, which is good for the environment. This process has the potential to be up to 80% efficient, meaning that 80% of the chemical resources can initially be converted into energy. Compare this to gasoline for your car, which is only 20% efficient. Hydrogen fuel cells were one of the power sources for Apollo 11 to reach the moon in 1969, so it’s not a new concept, but it was expensive.

Furthermore, since hydrogen and oxygen are not limited to one or a few world regions like crude oil, political conflicts over this important resource can also be eliminated. What are the current problems with fuel cells? Well, even though 90% of our universe is made up of hydrogen, it’s not currently available in any useful way for this technology. Furthermore, the current methods used to extract hydrogen do not give a pure form, which means that the energy efficiency drops to around 30-40%. This also increases the cost of the cell. Of course, oxygen is readily available in our atmosphere.

A recent discovery in Saturn’s rings of all places could be the biggest breakthrough for this technology. Scientists have discovered that as water leaves the rings, hydrogen is lost, leaving behind oxygen. The method is called electromagnetic bipolar separation; a method used in laboratories and can be employed deep in the earth’s core using the earth’s own electromagnetic field. If the method can be perfected, hydrogen can be separated from water almost for free. If hydrogen can be obtained at no cost, we can have an abundance of energy at almost no cost, and then the resulting water or steam is totally free of pollution.

In short, we could have very cheap energy, eliminate fossil fuels like oil as a source of global political and social conflict, and clean up our environment. If this is the end result, then we should all want something to happen now.