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Letters to the editor Can hydrogen ever truly be a green fuel? Shortly after I received a chemical engineering degree in 1970, I joined the American Chemical Society and saw a C&EN cover story asking whether hydrogen is the fuel of the future. I would submit it was then, is now, and will remain the fuel of the future for some time. Sure, hydrogen burns with the abundant oxygen in the atmosphere to make nonpolluting water. Hydrogen is readily available in the universe and in our sun, but bringing it to Earth is not going to happen. So we must get hydrogen from sources on Earth. Hydrogen bonds exothermically with carbon and other elements, and there are lots of these molecules on Earth. Unfortunately, free hydrogen is not readily available to us. Therefore, considerable amounts of energy, capital, and costs are required to liberate hydrogen for fuel use. Advocates say,