With the G8 Summit in Japan committing the major economic powers to reducing carbon emissions by 50 percent by the year 2050 many investors and inventors around the world continue to search for the ultimate in alternative fuels.

Hydrogen fuel cells have long been touted as the potential solution to a global economy still chronically addicted to burning carbon fossil fuels.

With 0-emissions and an unlimited resource hydrogen faces several challenges, one of which is the lack of hydrogen filling stations. So a British company, ITM Power, based in Sheffield, England thinks it has the answer that could kick-start a hydrogen-based economy: A home based refueling system.

The unit which can easily fit into most home garages resembles a modern fridge. The system works via an electrolyser which produces gas from electricity and water. Since all hydrogen generated power requires a power-supply to convert the gas into electricity, an internal combustion generator converts the gas back into electricity to provide additional power for the home. The company demo also showed the device producing hydrogen gas for heating, cooking and energy to run a fridge.

Running through the night, the ITM unit can currently provide enough hydrogen gas to run a hydrogen hybrid or 'petrol-to-hyrogen' car for 25 miles. The plan is to eventually generate a high pressure units in public places, offering hydrogen fuel cars with a 100 mile range.

The home based hydrogen producing units are still in prototype phase, but are expected to be commercially viable for around $4,000, though with wide acceptance mass production these costs could be drastically reduced. It is really all about adjusting a collective mindset. Remember when you only saw one, or two Toyota Prius' on the highway? Now count how many you see on the way home and you'll understand what I mean.

ITM Power converted a Ford Focus for the demonstration producing a hybrid for $6,000, for their demonstration, but critics argue that the hybrid hydrogen gas car is inefficient losing most of its energy before it is transferred to the drive-chain. Many experts feel that to make hydrogen a more viable solution hydrogen fuel-cell need to be utilized. ITM Power CEO Jim Heathcoate plans to also develop a liquid based fuel.

Japanese car manufacturer, Honda, announced last month that it was beginning production on it's 0-emission hydrogen-fuel cell powered car the FCX Clarity. Honda claim that the car is three times more efficient that traditional gasoline powered cars.

While the Clarity car still relies on getting power from the electricity grid, usually a fossil-fueled powerplant far from home, the cars produce nothing but water and oxygen. Actress, Jamie Le e Curtis was the first person to purchase the new Honda. The company expects demand to increase rapidly, especially in southern California, where there is an ever increasing number of hydrogen refueling stations. Honda plans to build 200 cars within the first three years of production.

Our dependence on petroleum gasoline is not going to disappear overnight, but the development of hydrogen fuel technology definitely seems more viable. It would be great to one day drive around and actually add oxygen and water to the air instead of carbon monoxide. Perhaps we should think of it in context of the bigger, blue-sky picture.

To quote Sir Winston Spencer Churchill: "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."