I'll take one in black

I follow alternative energy issues very closely. Every month my Fuel Cell Technology Newsletter arrives and I read about advances in hydrogen power. A few short years ago the newsletter was pretty short. Mostly announcements about a government grant here, a minor breakthrough there. Nothing real exciting. Lately the news releases have become more and more interesting. This month for instance Ford unveiled a six-passenger fuel cell-powered Explorer that can travel 350 miles on a single tank of hydrogen fuel. It's a concept vehicle, but the fact is it exists. All the naysayers who dismiss hydrogen as a viable energy alternative need to take notice. The arguments about viability, safety, infrastructure and just about every other reason "we can't" seem to dissolve in the water-vapor exhaust of this very real vehicle. Technology is funny that way. Not too long ago, they said cell phones would never get smaller than a lunchbox because of the power required to transmit. Microprocessors would never run faster than 500 MHz because of physical barriers presented by silicon technology. CD's would never take the place of cassettes because you can't record on them. There are many Chief Technology Officers who are unemployed today because they had the word "never" in their vocabulary. If there's a hydrogen-powered Ford Explorer on the road today, what will be available in five years? Staggers the imagination, doesn't it?