| MadSci Network: Environment & Ecology |
Ed,
As to creating a rain forest in the LA basin, I think a quick answer is "not likely". For one thing, combustion of hydrocarbon fuels has been adding lots of moisture to the LA atmosphere for years with no visible effect on the humidity and for another, the prevailing winds from the Pacific do a pretty good job of cleansing the air space. (Of course, smog does accumulate badly on certain days but this is usually temporary and depends on particular meteorological conditions.)
The much vaunted "hydrogen economy", I think, has much more serious problems, namely, how to generate the needed enormous quantity of hydrogen by means other than by converting fossil fuel, to create a whole new distribution system since nothing in the present gasoline distribution system would be applicable, to solve the horrific safety problems, to develope a safe system for storage of required quantity of hydrogen in motor vehicles, and so on. I know,all of these questions have been answered, but not to my satisfacton.
Just say to yourself, over and over, "Hydrogen is not a source of energy but is merely a means of transferring energy forom one place to another", and as to the "efficiency of hydrogen powered vehicles", just remember that the efficiency of converting some other form of energy into hydrogen comes into the equation too.
Sorry, Ed, about the soapbox approach to the hydrogen question but I feel very strongly that the subject is hyped totally out of proportion.
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