Just because a market isn't constrained by a government doesn't mean it's 'free'. Though a monopoly may arrise from a free market, once it is in place it only makes sense to protect its position.
To do that, it will raise barriers (or, in other contexts, 'regulations') to to entry in its proprietary market that make it extremely difficult for competitiors to establish themselves, let alone run any rings. It doesn't matter how 'nimble', efficient, or otherwise desirable the competitors are, since they don't face a free market. The government does not have a monopoly on regulation.
Irrespective of its competitive merits as an energy storage medium or its ease of extraction, hydrogen won't be a practical fuel until it has a cheap, efficient, and safe storage/transport mechanism. At present you can pick any 2 of the 3, as the safe, efficient modes involve complexing H into an expensive crystal matrix (eg palladium); the cheap, safe modes use large pressure vessels and low pressures; and the high-pressure vessels are patently unsafe. It doesn't matter how you get it if you can't take it anywhere.
Slashdot Mirror
Now Maxis can market a new expansion pack to add black-shirted anarchists and French nationalists to the Sims. Co-option ho!
Just because a market isn't constrained by a government doesn't mean it's 'free'. Though a monopoly may arrise from a free market, once it is in place it only makes sense to protect its position.
To do that, it will raise barriers (or, in other contexts, 'regulations') to to entry in its proprietary market that make it extremely difficult for competitiors to establish themselves, let alone run any rings. It doesn't matter how 'nimble', efficient, or otherwise desirable the competitors are, since they don't face a free market. The government does not have a monopoly on regulation.
Irrespective of its competitive merits as an energy storage medium or its ease of extraction, hydrogen won't be a practical fuel until it has a cheap, efficient, and safe storage/transport mechanism. At present you can pick any 2 of the 3, as the safe, efficient modes involve complexing H into an expensive crystal matrix (eg palladium); the cheap, safe modes use large pressure vessels and low pressures; and the high-pressure vessels are patently unsafe. It doesn't matter how you get it if you can't take it anywhere.