To add to this my feeling is that green Hydrogen is the fuel of the future especially now that a much cheaper catalyst has been developed. See https://interestingengineering.com/a-new-electrocatalyst-massively-improves-the-commercial-viability-of-green-hydrogen
Hydrogen does make a good fuel, but I think the efficiency of making it from green sources, even w/ latest catalysts, is low, like 40%-60%, AND most applications want it highly compressed, which is energy costly with hydrogen, so I think round trip efficiency is unfortunately low, like 30%., though pls correct me if I’m wrong.
And there are probably application like aviation, or say in combo with CAES, where hydrogen is a win or doesn’t need compression, etc. hope this is helpful/valid
When you consider the existential threat the continuing use of fossil fuels brings it's important to realize that the further along that path we go the less important economics and efficiency become and the more important does it work and in zero carbon becomes. Additionally this is not to be thought of a as a single source solution, it is one of many and it's important to realize there will not be a magic wand, but the instead the application of every available technology and practice.
The oil companies are pushing hydrogen hard, I think so they can keep selling fossil fuel, to make “blue” hydrogen when no one is checking/looking. So hydrogen is a fuel to be considered carefully.
And, I respectfully at least partly disagree: efficiency and economics are both going to be crucial, for the next 10-20 years, until we get so “far along that path” as you said, that people are scared, due to drought, floods, etc. And the next 10-20 years are crucial ayk for stopping the methane, replacing coal&gas, etc before ice sheets&tundra melt. So money is key, and efficiency, imho. Thx.
The problem today is that our governments in the west are largely "controlled", in one way or another, by fossil fuel interests, from lobbying, to the wrong people being elected, to the massive lies and greenwashing the public is being fed . This is the single most massive, and critical, failure of our economic systems.
H2 certainly has problems regarding transport but we have here in NA (I'm Canadian BTW) a vast infrastructure of O&G pipelines that can be used to move it. With the recent revelations of potentially massive stores of H2 underground (geologic forces creating it) it can be accessed all over the world reducing both cost to mine it and less need for transport https://www.science.org/content/article/hidden-hydrogen-earth-may-hold-vast-stores-renewable-carbon-free-fuel
"A new report published Wednesday details how the fossil fuel industry—with assistance from the Biden administration—has taken advantage of Russia's war on Ukraine to secure long-term methane gas export contracts that will lock in years of planet-warming emissions and further pad Big Oil's profits."
To add to this my feeling is that green Hydrogen is the fuel of the future especially now that a much cheaper catalyst has been developed. See https://interestingengineering.com/a-new-electrocatalyst-massively-improves-the-commercial-viability-of-green-hydrogen
Hydrogen does make a good fuel, but I think the efficiency of making it from green sources, even w/ latest catalysts, is low, like 40%-60%, AND most applications want it highly compressed, which is energy costly with hydrogen, so I think round trip efficiency is unfortunately low, like 30%., though pls correct me if I’m wrong.
And there are probably application like aviation, or say in combo with CAES, where hydrogen is a win or doesn’t need compression, etc. hope this is helpful/valid
When you consider the existential threat the continuing use of fossil fuels brings it's important to realize that the further along that path we go the less important economics and efficiency become and the more important does it work and in zero carbon becomes. Additionally this is not to be thought of a as a single source solution, it is one of many and it's important to realize there will not be a magic wand, but the instead the application of every available technology and practice.
The oil companies are pushing hydrogen hard, I think so they can keep selling fossil fuel, to make “blue” hydrogen when no one is checking/looking. So hydrogen is a fuel to be considered carefully.
And, I respectfully at least partly disagree: efficiency and economics are both going to be crucial, for the next 10-20 years, until we get so “far along that path” as you said, that people are scared, due to drought, floods, etc. And the next 10-20 years are crucial ayk for stopping the methane, replacing coal&gas, etc before ice sheets&tundra melt. So money is key, and efficiency, imho. Thx.
There was a time when we had 10-20 years - that time has come and gone. See https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/72/12/1149/6764747 and https://insideclimatenews.org/news/17022023/climate-feedback-loop-accelerators/. Every single IPCC report has grossly underestimated the rate of climate change (not deliberately just a result of the best science available at the time.)
The problem today is that our governments in the west are largely "controlled", in one way or another, by fossil fuel interests, from lobbying, to the wrong people being elected, to the massive lies and greenwashing the public is being fed . This is the single most massive, and critical, failure of our economic systems.
Then there is this https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/feb/16/world-risks-descending-into-a-climate-doom-loop-warn-thinktanks - by expending our energy and $ to cope with the with escalating impacts of climate crisis could override tackling root cause.
H2 certainly has problems regarding transport but we have here in NA (I'm Canadian BTW) a vast infrastructure of O&G pipelines that can be used to move it. With the recent revelations of potentially massive stores of H2 underground (geologic forces creating it) it can be accessed all over the world reducing both cost to mine it and less need for transport https://www.science.org/content/article/hidden-hydrogen-earth-may-hold-vast-stores-renewable-carbon-free-fuel
Regarding my comment on politics being influenced by O&G lobbying etc. see https://www.commondreams.org/news/biden-big-oil-gas-exports -
"A new report published Wednesday details how the fossil fuel industry—with assistance from the Biden administration—has taken advantage of Russia's war on Ukraine to secure long-term methane gas export contracts that will lock in years of planet-warming emissions and further pad Big Oil's profits."