On September 30, 1847, Congressman George Perkins Marsh of Vermont declared: “But though man cannot at his pleasure command the rain and the sunshine, the wind and frost and snow...it is certain that climate itself has in many instances been gradually changed and ameliorated or deteriorated by human action.”

This visionary statement from Congressman Marsh, who was one of the great American environmentalists of his time, was soon to be overshadowed by technologies so extraordinary that they changed the course of history to this day.

Of course, I’m talking about automobiles powered by gasoline engines, an invention that rapidly evolved and expanded, changing the face of transportation and energy, and ushered in the era of inexpensive fossil fuels and prolonged economic growth and prosperity.

But inevitably, whatever goes up eventually goes down - and we find ourselves in the midst of urgent energy security issues and critical environmental challenges, underscoring the impact of the E3 Paradigm that I introduced in earlier blogs.

So, here we are, 161 years later, grappling for answers on how to break our oil dependency at a moment in time when we can least afford the massive infrastructure investments needed for change.

The great irony is that clean energy technology has been around for well over a century. The first demonstration of hydrogen produced from water and electricity – called electrolysis – occurred in 1800, followed in 1839 with separate experiments with hydrogen fuel cells and photovoltaic cells. The first American “cleantech” energy solution – hydroelectric power – was first used in the 1880’s, followed by geothermal power in 1904 and wind power in 1922.

Today, there is an extraordinary array of new clean, sustainable technologies and fuels that are ushering in a new era of energy – one that holds the promise of unparalleled economic growth, competitiveness and environmental recovery.

Most of you know about solar and wind power, and perhaps some of you have installed solar panels or purchased “carbon offsets” from your local utility.

There is less public awareness or knowledge about hydrogen and fuel cells, primarily because these are “newly emerging” energy options that, despite of the many years they have been commercially available and viable.

In comparing solar and wind to hydrogen and fuel cells:

The major benefit - both solar and wind power are technologies that produce their own energy and self-generate electricity that is sustainable and completely free from harmful emissions.

The downsides - solar and wind are comparatively expensive, have long capital payback periods, their output is intermittent (based on the availability of adequate sun and wind), and any surplus energy generated is expensive to store and regenerate.

There is also the issue of aesthetics – solar panels and wind turbines don’t easily blend in with their architectural or natural environments. Nevertheless, solar and wind power are currently at the head of the pack for cleantech investment and market adoption.

Hydrogen and fuel cells are several years behind solar and wind in market adoption, but also represent excellent sources of sustainable and zero-emission energy. Both have extraordinary potential and benefits in transportation and base-load energy that solar and wind don’t have.

Next time, I’ll drill down into these extraordinary energy systems further.

[This article is cross-posted from the blog of ClearEdge power.]