This is weird.

One of the easiest arguments to make against hydrogen fuel cells is that you have one too many energy conversions going on (first, you need energy to make the hydrogen, then you use the hydrogen to make electricity onboard the vehicle). Why not just use the initial energy - usually electricity - to power up a battery and move the car that way? Well, "the battery" and range anxiety are two obvious answers, but still, the idea that we keep refining energy sources until we get to hydrogen is one that not a lot of people are buying.

So, what will they think about turning biodiesel (and vegetable oil) into hydrogen? That's the idea behind Innovatek's latest proposal, according to Biodiesel Magazine. Innovatek's president, chief executive officer and founder Patricia Irving (pictured) said that her company has reduced the size needed for making hydrogen through steam reforming to "something more portable."

So, basically, the idea is that we make biodiesel (or vegetable oil), transport that over long distances (instead of hydrogen, which is pretty hard to transport) and put it into a small steam reformer that can then make hydrogen to make electricity in a fuel cell.

Whew.

[Source: Biodiesel Magazine]