Automotive manufacturers and energy companies continue to tout hydrogen as a zero polluting fuel of the future. But just how far away is that future?

The United States has hopes to fill American roads with hydrogen-powered cars in two decades, but the clean fuel must be cheap and practical to make before it can replace oil.

Many energy gurus are now saying that twenty years might be too ambitious a goal. In order to start producing hydrogen like gasoline, and to organize the infrastructure needed to build and supply the number of fueling stations needed, we are most probably looking at closer to one hundred years to have hydrogen make a significant impact.

While hydrogen has more energy power than oil, methanol and natural gas, its lightness makes it very difficult to stock and transport. Hydrogen can be produced from a wide range of sources including natural gas, coal, water, wind, nuclear power and biological methods.

If half of cars circulating in the United States run with hydrogen fuel by 2050, oil imports would drop by two-thirds, reducing the emission of harmful greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. But even that goal may be unattainable in the next half century.

Honda announced that it would offer a hydrogen-powered car in the United States next year, the zero-emissions FCX Clarity, to customers on a limited long-term lease basis for a cost of around 600 dollars a month. The car caught the eye of many a journalist in LA.

If pundit’s predictions pan out, it appears that Honda will be the first automaker to offer a 100 year lease!