Water, Water, Everywhere

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a30338137/first-international-hydrogen-supply-chain/

I seem to be the only person who has realized that burning hydrogen and releasing only water vapor is not, in fact, completely nonpolluting.

The question of how to generate the hydrogen, and if that generation procedure itself creates pollution has been pointed out. But even if the hydrogen is produced entirely by renewable energy sources, there is still a result from burning all that hydrogen in our automobiles, airplanes and etc.  The pollutant is water.

Water as a pollutant? Sounds ridiculous. Think about it however. Maybe it’s because I live in the high desert that I realize that replacing all of the tons of smog generating pollutants with tons of water vapor would greatly raise the local humidity. That would change the climate. That could kill off natural desert vegetation and wildlife.

I can’t even imagine what the consequences would be to an area that has already high humidity. What would San Francisco look like if it’s even more humid? How about the Pacific Northwest?

Yes, technology can solve many problems.  It usually does so by creating new problems.

The filth, disease, and stench of American cities that resulted from all the horse droppings were relieved by the new internal combustion engine. Which gave us smog, lung disease, and all the problems with which we are now so familiar.