Three years ago, in 2003 Mr. Jeremy Rifkin, president of  the “Foundation on Economy Trends” chose Orvieto to start his “Hydrogencities” project. Mr Rifkin wants to create a new global energetic network and he wants to use only the energy of hydrogen for it .

He hopes that in a not very far away future every home of the nation can have a fuel cell for the production of energy. Everyone will become an energy producer and sell it to the other users.

But this project has three main problems: costs, organization and the ideological problem.

New hydrogen technology is very expensive: a fuel cell can cost about 3000 $(for a medium car we need 250 fuel cells), but if the know how continues to improve the cost will decrease. Further more you can sell the exceding energy and in ten years you will start to gain.

Organization is the main problem. A state must build a new energy net, like the World Wide Web and it may be very complicated. In America there is an example of that network the FACTS (flexible alternative current transmission system), some software (sage system) controls the emission of the electricity .

As regard for  ideological problem hydrogen may have some problem with the oil companies that do not approve the use of clean energy, but, if  Rifkin’s project is realized soon advantage for the humanity will be amazing unbelievable: no more pollution, no more oil companies, more, and less expensive, energy for all. Third world countries get energy at lower cost.

We must accept than that project is not very easy to realize, but, if we manage to reduce the costs it will become nearer. We can realize an energetic revolution and create a new form of democratic energy.

Sara Danielli