By burning fossil fuels to obtain energy, we release a number of air pollutants and carbon dioxide. Though a natural component of our atmosphere, carbon dioxide has the potential to cause problems as it reaches higher concentrations in the atmosphere. Fossil fuels contain carbon because they were formed from carbon-based plant material which originally captured the sun's energy through photosynthesis.

The use of hydrogen as our main energy medium offers an answer to the threat of global climate change and a host of other undesirable factors associated with fossil fuel use including foreign oil dependence, toxic air and water pollution, acid rain, and depletion of valuable petrochemicals. Once hydrogen becomes our energy medium, it will enable us to live within our means on our sustainable energy "income," not squander our exhaustible energy "capital."

• h2 use does not produce carbon dioxide or any other greenhouse gas
• h2 use avoids all the costs of producing and using fossil fuels
• h2 is clean: in the cycle of storing and releasing energy, water is both the source and end-product
• h2 avoids the hidden ecological, health, aesthetic, and property damage costs of fossil fuel use
• h2 is not a producer of acid rain nor does it deplete the ozone layer