University of Sunderland proudly announced a breakthrough in hydrogen powered car techology. The problem with hydrogen is that it uses far less energy to use any electricity directly to power a car, rather than turning it into hydrogen first. However, after exchanging few emails with the project manager i'm slightly less cynical. His argument is that a small tank of hydrogen produced from renewable energy can add a 'quick fill' capacity to extend the range of the battery, rather than instead of it. Also the efficiency of hydrogen production can be improved with this kind of research. My conclusion is that we can dismiss solutions ideas too easily as unrealistic techno-fixes. In fact many of these ideas, if sensibly applied, combined and seen in their correct context, can make a contribution.