The auto industry and the U.S. government are touting hydrogen—specifically cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells—as the savior of the environment. President Bush endorsed hydrogen fuel cell powered cars in his State of the Union address, saying "The first car driven by a child born today could be powered by hydrogen, and pollution-free."
Writing recently in The Wall Street Journal Jeffrey Ball cites a full-page newspaper and magazine ad in which Toyota Motor Corp. says it's offering vehicles whose "only emission is water." The cars are "now on the road and ready to drive," the ad says. General Motors hopes to sell a million fuel cell powered cars a year—10 percent of total production—by the middle of the next decade, according to Larry Burns, GM's top technology executive.