TG, I still think CNG is a good step in the right direction and can easily and quickly be put in place, but I agree that Hydrogen should be the ultimate goal. You make a great point about a moon shot effort; why can’t we do that today?
A San Diego firm built a High Temperature Nuke Reactor I think in the 70s or 80s. It had issues so it closed, but it was safe and it worked. I remember reading not too long ago that they have improved the technology, perfecting it and would love to build some VHTRs.
Very High Temperature Nuke Reactors (VHTR) are a multi-pronged problem solver for So Cal especially. They can be configured to multi-task. So Cal needs what?
1 Fresh water (bonus is that it takes pressure off Colorado River farmers to sell water so they can instead grow food crops)
2 We need affordable electricity
3 What better place for the birth of a Hydrogen city/s? So Cal’s mix of high tech folks and contractors and every worker in-between would benefit greatly. Jobs of all kinds are exactly what we need right now.
VHTRs can generate electricity and Hydrogen at the same time. They can be made to switch from Hydrogen production to desalination duties. How dumb is that we over-draw the Colorado River and lake system to feed cities positioned on the water (Pacific)?
This I think, makes the hydrogen dream feasible because generating hydrogen becomes a byproduct of generating electricity, making hydrogen cheap and available?
If I was in charge making this today’s “moon shot” effort would be priority one!
