Could we stop or reverse global warming without substantially reducing our standard of living

[Johonny]

23. I think methane or other hydrocarbons still likely

hydrogen is generally a pain to store and transport. We are getting better and better at making hydrocarbons and fuel cells that run on methane should be available. That said there are some pretty cool hydrogen fuel cells out there these days. I'm not sold on the hydrogen economy though. I think hydrocarbons have a long track record and really can be incorporated more readily into most societies. The trick is to not use sequestered hydrocarbons but those generated from the CO2 in the air. Which many companies are working on, although their stock prices would indicate it isn't at all a mature process.

Once again oil, natural gas, a lithium battery, hydrogen or man made hydrocarbons are all the same thing. They are all energy storage devices that ultimately get their main energy from the sun. This is always going to be true unless fusion is finally conquered as a mature technology. The trick humans need to do is to stop using sequestered carbon and run on more modern energy storage devices. How rapidly we incorporate this technology is how different we live in the future. One thing is for sure, if human continue the current use rate of sequestered hydrocarbons the standard of living of those in the future is clearly going way down.