As gas prices continue to rise alongside mercury in poolside thermometers this summer, desperate consumers are looking to hybrid vehicles as an answer to the growing fuel crisis and the environmental concerns regarding greenhouse emissions.

Still, questions loom ever nearer due to the high cost of hybrids, their still being dependent on fuel, and whether, in fact, the entire concept should be scrap-heaped and replaced with a cleaner alternative.

While car manufacturers claim the nickel batteries for the hybrids are recyclable and will last for the life of the car, there is growing trepidation as the time draws near for many car owners who aren't looking to relegate their cars to the junkyards, instead hoping for a vehicle whose lifespan exceeds that of nickel batteries themselves.

Enter: hydrogen.

Compared with a fossil fuel industry which is limited, pollutant, and expensive, requiring foreign nations for its production, it's hard to improve upon the concept of an inert gas (and the most available known element in the Universe) as a clean, cheap, renewable fuel carrier.

Unlike gasoline which provides energy (or electricity/batteries in hybrids which are charged while braking), fuel cells convert hydrogen to electricity through electrolysis to produce water and electricity. Among other things , hydrogen promises to reduce greenhouse gases, increase global energy security, increase the reliability of the power grid, and provide high-quality power digital devices.

Because hydrogen is an energy carrier and not a source, fueling stations will still necessarily exist, and for all of its research, hydrogen is being hailed as one of the most expensive ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while creating its own potential set of new problems in both the atmosphere and on the ground.

Hydrogen, as a gas, and while making up the initial atmosphere of the Earth (along with helium) is noted for its high level of leakage, and is currently released into the atmosphere as a result of combustion engines (at a rate of about 20%). Unlike fossil fuels, which are subjected to the throes of gravity, are we sure when we fill the tank that a reasonable amount is making it into the vehicle? The truth is, outside of scientific models and known data from combustion engines, we can't be sure of it its behavior at the pump due to leaks at this point.

Couple the exponential increase in the use of hydrogen in combustion engines, and more problems could arise. While hydrogen gas, with less than 1 ppm (part per million), plays very little in the overall function of the atmosphere, with its propensity towards rising when expelled ( oxygen weighs 14 times more than hydrogen), there is concern over whether or not saturation of hydrogen in the stratosphere would exist.

One effect, according to Princeton University, provides that hydrogen entering into the atmosphere and mixing with oxygen could produce more water, saturating the atmospheres below. This reaction would thus affect lower layers of the atmosphere, increasing the atmospheric lifetime of methane and NO2 (nitrogen dioxide). Scientific research shows that for every mole of hydrogen gas released, 0.01 moles of methane is released into the atmosphere. As a result, hydrogen could increase a byproduct of global warming by holding heat within its layers. Using models, theories abound that ozone thinning at the poles due to increased water vapor could decrease the temperature at the lower stratosphere as well, another negative possible effect of hydrogen saturation in the atmosphere.

While fossil fuel use might promote the carbon dioxide emissions which then cause heat to be reradiated towards Earth (Greenhouse Gases), a move towards hydrogen might seem to yield promising answers when compared to burning fossil fuels. The ozone stands to lose with hydrogen at the helm of vehicle technology, depending upon manufacturing (more countries are currently looking to renewable, clean energy resources for hydrogen production) and use.

In conjunction with potential issues with hydrogen in the troposphere, sinks are also a concern. While the soil has the ability to absorb great amounts of hydrogen, the question remains: how much more can it consume than it is presently? If soil uptake must increase with exponential use of a fuel carrier releasing excess hydrogen into the environment, the lack of ability to absorb excess hydrogen could result in the atmosphere's inability to cleanse itself from the added gas emissions to the atmosphere. In order to keep the 'budget balanced' with regards to hydrogen, air and soils must work together. How this will play out in the long-term is yet to be seen.

While absolute effects of hydrogen on the horizon are unknown at this point, more scientific research results in more questions. Will our climates change? Will our ozone layers deplete with more tenacity at the helm of a hydrogen economy? Will our planet support the ravages of a hydrogen-rich environment?

To ignore the possibilities of excessive amounts of hydrogen being released into the soil and the air through combustion engines and a hydrogen economy replacing fossil fuels would be to falsely assume that just because it's inert won't mean it can't hurt.