Hydrogen Hyperbole

Re “Our Oil Policy Isn’t Immoral,” Commentary, April 29: In order to reduce our dependence on petroleum, Jonathan Tepperman absurdly calls for a Manhattan Project-style investment in renewable energy sources. (Using nuclear energy would be much more sensible.) He repeats the falsehood that hydrogen is a source of energy.

Repeat after me: Hydrogen is not a source of energy, because we don’t have any -- not as the uncombined element. On Earth, it is almost all in chemical compounds with other elements, mainly oxygen, in which case it has already given up its energy, or carbon, as in petroleum.

Donald B. Gennery

Glendale