THE MIRAGE SOCIAL ENERGY The Economy of the Hydrogen

This paper is a critical examination of proposals for a "hydrogen economy." In Jeremy Rifkin's The Hydrogen Economy (2002) such an economy was proposed as a solution to the many problems associated with the use of fossil fuels including the dangers of global climate change. The promise has been echoed since by many others who have been concerned by energy policy. Hydrogen has increasingly been viewed as a "dorado" energy that would greatly benefit all humanity, especially the most disadvantaged. But the golden age of energy has not yet appeared and may never do so. There are multiple problems in the development of a hydrogen economy. One of these problems concerns social impacts, which have especially been ignored. It is the potential social impacts of a hydrogen economy that are given special attention here, in order to explore some of the reasons for doubting that the social economy of hydrogen will be able to realize the many hopes associated with it.