Biohydrogen 97

Abstract

It is a pleasure to join you here today. This meeting is, of course, aimed at reviewing the status of an advancing technology, namely biohydrogen production. But in the larger picture of a sustainable world energy system for the coming millennium, hydrogen production is only beginning to be taken seriously. It is a technology that requires a vision reaching out 50 years or more. So it is extraordinary that all of you in this audience have come together to study such a long-range, speculative, yet promising prospect. It is not yet clear that hydrogen alone will play a central role in the world’s energy system, but it is clear that a fundamental research approach, plus engineering ingenuity, is essential to assessing its prospects. In reviewing the literature on a sustainable energy future, I have been impressed with the serious thought that has been applied to the possibilities. It appears that decades of effort, organized to produce the knowledge and technologies, will be required.