For many decades the way to stop global warming has been abundantly clear. The planet is getting warmer because we continue to burn fossil fuels for energy and this releases C02 gas into the atmosphere. The two main fossil fuels that are the culprits are coal and oil.
Unfortunately for us here in Australia, coal is one of the two biggest items on our export programme that pays the national bills, and it is our coal that fuels electricity generation in China and India and is an essential for the steel industries of the world. Simply closing down Australian coal mines is out of the question because demand would be met by other countries.
At present, demand for oil is predominantly associated with the fuel that powers the world car fleets. We seem to be on the cusp of changing from the internal combustion engine to electric cars and if that happens oil will retreat as the source of C02. Unfortunately, oil will continue to be the base product from which a huge range of industrial products are derived.
Strangely, the world has an unlimited supply of a base energy material which can be burned to power motor cars or generate electricity without any release of C02. It is called " hydrogen " and it is abundant in the most common item found on this planet - water !
The chemical symbol for water is H20 and when water is split into its constituent parts of hydrogen and oxygen the only requirement seems to be electricity - and the burning of hydrogen is one way we might economically produce electricity generation.
Australia is ideally placed in a temperate zone of the southern hemisphere and with a huge land mass from which solar power and wind can produce electricity. We are surrounded by an unlimited amount of water and there is no reason why we can not produce and export hydrogen gas to power the world.
The only problem is the world is terrified of the stuff. That probably goes back to 1937 when Germany used hydrogen gas to create the great airship Hindenburgh and this exploded when landing at Lakehurst in New Jersey in the USA. That was captured on the news cameras of the day and reinforced the notion that hydrogen is a very dangerous gas and that has inhibited its use in industry.
At the same time we are developing electric cars, hydrogen as a fuel for the internal combustion engine is reaching an advanced stage and may fill the gap where electricity has limitations. The future for heavy transport may be based on the hydrogen fuel cell.
We are fast becoming the worlds biggest exporter of natural gas and that is equally as dangerous as hydrogen but we have learned to handle it safely. Natural gas is also a finite product and will run out one day. Hydrogen is simply unlimited as long as we have water - and the oceans ensure that is unlimited.
Australia would be well advised to pursue the development of hydrogen technology. This is the gas that can warm homes in the bleak northern winter and create electricity without the attendant release of C02 gas, and the cost of production can be achieved by solar converting water into an export product.
That seems to tick all the boxes. The answer to global warming is in plain sight.
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