What would be the most practical raw fuel for a hydrogen economy?

In a near-future world we have stopped directly fueling private, public, and mass transit and we have migrated to a hydrogen economy as the standard energy carrier.

Consider the following factors:

• Global energy consumption has grown 15% beyond today.

• Fuel resource availability

• Ease of resource distribution by land and sea (technically advanced beyond today).

• Efficiency of energy transfer

• Renewability of the fuel

Neglect / Hand-wave the following considerations:

• Technical difficulty of the generating process

• handling and containment material bulk or weight

• Storage difficulties

What would the most practical primary fuel be to sustain a First-world power on a hydrogen economy?

Note, in technical terms hydrogen is sometimes called a "secondary fuel" but it is never itself a source of energy. According to Wikipedia:

An energy carrier does not produce energy; it simply contains energy imbued by another system.

And:

Chemical fuels are divided in two ways. First, by their physical properties, as a solid, liquid or gas. Secondly, on the basis of their occurrence: primary (natural fuel) and secondary (artificial fuel).

posted over 4 years ago

Vogon Poet‭

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