Lifeboat Foundation

Battery–electric vehicles have become ubiquitous as more people have realized how much less pollution they produce than traditional gas-powered cars. But another type of planet-friendly vehicle, the hydrogen car, has yet to catch on, for a few different reasons.

Now, a new technique developed by researchers at Rice University in Texas may provide the key to making hydrogen cars — and hydrogen fuel as a whole — more viable.

Hydrogen is incredibly attractive as an alternative to gas and oil — it is a storable fuel that produces no planet-overheating pollution when used. The problem, however, is that it produces a whole lot of planet-overheating pollution when it is made.