There are several issues involved with moving to a ‘hydrogen economy’. The most common techniques for producing relatively pure hydrogen involve large amounts of energy and fossil fuels which result in the production of correspondingly large amounts of greenhouse gas. The distribution and storage of hydrogen also presents numerous problems, due to its extremely low density, boiling point and small molecular size. As such extensive research is currently being performed into the storage of hydrogen in more convenient forms and then producing the gas ‘on the fly’ for use in devices such as fuel cells. Another possibility is the ‘methanol economy’ which involves the use of alcohols, such as methanol, either with reforming, or directly in a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). It also has the advantage that advances in the biofuel arena leading to more efficient production of alcohols for fuel, such as cellulosic ethanol, may make this technique more sustainable. We present recent research into this area by CSIRO and others.