While those automakers will introduce the cars in small numbers and in limited markets, by 2015 or so, Honda and Mercedes-Benz are already leasing hydrogen fuel-cell powered cars to customers in Southern California.

Obvious problem - where do you get the hydrogen? If you are using natural gas to produce it, it's more efficient and much easier just to use the natural gas. If you're using electricity to produce it, it's much easier and more efficient to store it in a battery and use it that way.

Also, hydrogen gas is devilishly difficult to work with. Because of its tiny molecular size, it can embed itself in steel when under pressure. And in order to get any sort of range out of the vehicle, it will have to be pressurized to 4000 + psi, which requires more energy and also will require regular testing of the fuel tanks. If you're going to create a synthetic fuel, much better to use something like algae derived butanol or biodiesel.

No they are an efficient and clean method of generating energy. The issues that we have had with them in the past are based on two reasons: human error and structural integrity. As long as you build them to a strict set of standards you can eliminate the second issue. Once we figure out the best way to build them to minimize structural damage we should start reimplementing them asap.

Three mile island and japan were bad, but we shouldn't allow irrational fear about a disaster that has a small chance of occurring to stop us from progressing technologically and overcoming these issues.

If we don't stop living in fear of everything that could go wrong, we'll never progress.

no one ever counts byproducts because if we did nothing would truly be clean.