Cost of getting things done ...

I was browsing through an year old IEEE Spectrum and the news that caught my attention was the article on Hydrogen based fuel. From a layman perspective, it is very attractive. Hydrogen is available in abundance. Once you produce hydrogen and liquefy it and burn it as a fuel, it will produce steam which in turn gets put back into atmosphere. With such an ideal picture, why isnt such a technology being adopted for mass consumption? The reason lies in the cost involved... (storing, transporting and creating a new infrastructure). It is not that I am against hydrogen based fuel. I am just talking about the cost involved. If hydrogen based fuel would cost us $10/gallon equivalent of gas, will we buy it? How much will we be willing to pay ? Anything less than the current gas price?

The important issue at hand is the real cost. For example, if you can get gold somewhere around 10 miles under the earth, does it make sense to get the gold ? Same is true with the cost of venturing into anything. At a very high level, a lot of times, things seem a lot simpler and easier than what it really takes to get it done. Why am I suddenly talking about all this stuff? If you havent guessed already, which I am sure you havent..:)..Yes, I am talking about Shoba's achievement of completion of her MS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. I know what it takes (some CP..;)) to complete an MS from Stanford. It is hard. Not just from an academic sense, but also in terms of the dedication and discipline it takes to sustain the momentum. You've been a constant inspiration to everyone around you. And, I salute you for this monumental achievement....