A viable pathway for hydrogen as fuel
1–10 of 51 posts
Re: A viable pathway for hydrogen as fuel
#2Is there anything of substance here or did Mr Johnson pay Vox a ton of money to run a fluff piece?
Re: A viable pathway for hydrogen as fuel
#3The article names it, but then does not dive deeper into it: the hydrogen chain has huge energy losses. First, electrolysis unfortunately has not a high efficiency - I have read numbers around 70%, but then the compression of the produced hydrogen takes a lot of energy, as compressing gases heats them up. Then the hydrogen has to be transported and stored, requiring further energy. Finally, you have to use the hydrogen, there the efficiency varies between 60% (fuel cell) or as proposed in the article with a combustion engine as low as 30%.
At the same time, there are less and less applications which cannot be powered by electricity directly, having only a fraction of losses compared to the equivalent hydrogen chain. So as long we do not have more than 100% reneweable electricity generation, we should be very concerned about the efficiency of our energy usage.
Re: A viable pathway for hydrogen as fuel
#4Hydrogen can't be a fuel until we find a load of it underground. Until then we spend more energy making it, so it's only as good as a battery.
Re: A viable pathway for hydrogen as fuel
#5Hydrogen can't be a fuel until we find a load of it underground. Until then we spend more energy making it, so it's only as good as a battery.
And due to the inefficiency of the components, it is a very bad battery. That is the main problem, as attractive it would be to produce hydrogen via solar.
Re: A viable pathway for hydrogen as fuel
#6Hydrogen does have a lot of problems which other commenters here point out.
But if HyTech is to be believed, some of these problems are solved. Probably their most significant claim, is hydride storage at ordinary temperature / pressure with safe, practical, cost effectiveness in recovering that stored energy.
Re: A viable pathway for hydrogen as fuel
#7Hydrogen can't be a fuel until we find a load of it underground. Until then we spend more energy making it, so it's only as good as a battery.
And due to the inefficiency of the components, it is a very bad battery. That is the main problem, as attractive it would be to produce hydrogen via solar.
But wait, a "tall, rangy, blond, inveterate maker and builder whose eyes light up when he talks engineering" claims he's solved all efficiency and and storage problems with super-secret technology. Incidentally, he's also the CEO of the company and probably paying for the piece:
>To date, most hydride fluids have been less energy dense than compressed hydrogen, and far short of fossil fuels. They weigh too much for the energy they provide. Johnson thinks he’s cracked both problems. He won’t reveal the details of the hydrides involved, but he’s got the power-to-weight ratio high enough to beat lithium-ion batteries (which are very heavy) and the hydride bond weak enough that it can be broken using only the redirected waste heat from the engine (no added heat or pressure required).
Re: A viable pathway for hydrogen as fuel
#8Hydrogen can't be a fuel until we find a load of it underground. Until then we spend more energy making it, so it's only as good as a battery.
96% of hydrogen already comes from fossil fuels:
> There are four main sources for the commercial production of hydrogen: natural gas, oil, coal, and electrolysis; which account for 48%, 30% 18% and 4% of the world’s hydrogen production respectively.
Re: A viable pathway for hydrogen as fuel
#9The article names it, but then does not dive deeper into it: the hydrogen chain has huge energy losses. First, electrolysis unfortunately has not a high efficiency - I have read numbers around 70%, but then the compression of the produced hydrogen takes a lot of energy, as compressing gases heats them up. Then the hydrogen has to be transported and stored, requiring further energy. Finally, you have to use the hydrog…
Hopefully solar cells will become cheap enough quickly enough. It would be awesome to have a small hydrogen plant at home.
Re: A viable pathway for hydrogen as fuel
#10The article names it, but then does not dive deeper into it: the hydrogen chain has huge energy losses. First, electrolysis unfortunately has not a high efficiency - I have read numbers around 70%, but then the compression of the produced hydrogen takes a lot of energy, as compressing gases heats them up. Then the hydrogen has to be transported and stored, requiring further energy. Finally, you have to use the hydrog…
Hopefully solar cells will become cheap enough quickly enough. It would be awesome to have a small hydrogen plant at home.
What would you use the hydrogen plant for? For the same amount of solar energy, a Tesla is going about 3x further than a Mirai, and a heat pump would provide much more heat your house.