Everyone Knows It's Windy

The party in late May on the tiny, remote Shetland island of Unst, Britain's northernmost inhabited chunk of rock, was a real gas — literally. Islanders bopped to an enthusiastic set of '50s and '60s favorites performed by the Bonxies, perhaps the only rock band powered by a hydrogen fuel cell.

The electricity that amplified their guitars and keyboard came from a hybrid wind-into-hydrogen system that is part of the world's first community-owned hydrogen production plant, built on this island of 700 inhabitants. "Despite all the hype around the hydrogen economy, there appeared to be very little to...