Interesting. Even if it can only produce a little, burning pure hydrogen would at least reduce CO2 emitting methane gas. Even replacing say, 5% of it would ease the effects of climate change. That...
Interesting. Even if it can only produce a little, burning pure hydrogen would at least reduce CO2 emitting methane gas. Even replacing say, 5% of it would ease the effects of climate change.
That said, this could of course be weaponized as a 'solution' when the oil industry also needs to shrink regardless. Unfortunately, we already lost so much time that this shouldn't change the pressure on investing in all other renewables.
I feel that hydrogen for driving is pushed pretty hard by oil companies like Shell. It's pretty obvious, hydrogen is something you need to get at a gas station, while charging an electric car can...
I feel that hydrogen for driving is pushed pretty hard by oil companies like Shell. It's pretty obvious, hydrogen is something you need to get at a gas station, while charging an electric car can be done at home, cheaply if you have solar panels.
Hydrogen is still a great solution for heating homes in the months when it's cold and there is very little sunshine, like autumn in Europe.
In the last few years most of the hydrogen talk I’ve heard is about industrial uses of hydrogen. 20 years ago somebody might have said electric cars weren’t practical but you can’t do that now....
In the last few years most of the hydrogen talk I’ve heard is about industrial uses of hydrogen. 20 years ago somebody might have said electric cars weren’t practical but you can’t do that now.
Ironically, one major use of hydrogen is in oil refining. Remember that corporations are usually attributed to (1) the emissions directly from their operation and (2) emissions from their suppliers. It is the customers who burn the stuff so their customers get blamed.
I’d oil companies used green hydrogen in the refinery they’d eliminate the CO2 emissions from making hydrogen, oil refineries are also a good place to capture CO2 and inject it underground (already got amine strippers for other purposes, in the U.S. they are geographically clustered over favorable terrain) so they could keep selling gasoline but claim to be “net zero” themselves.
Fossil fuel companies have been pushing hydrogen because the easiest and most common way of producing it is by processing fossil fuels. This is, of course, yet another way for them to cling to...
Fossil fuel companies have been pushing hydrogen because the easiest and most common way of producing it is by processing fossil fuels.
This is, of course, yet another way for them to cling to some variation of their existing business model, and hydrogen produced this way is basically useless for reducing fossil fuel use or Climate Change damage.
The better way to produce hydrogen is by electrolysis -- running electricity through water which causes it to break apart into oxygen and hydrogen. If the electricity is produced by renewable sources ... this is "green" hydrogen ... if the electricity is produced by burning fossil fuels ... then, again, it is just another roundabout way of perpetuating dependence on fossil fuels.
The most important point with hydrogen is that ... it is not an energy source. It is a different kind of "battery" for storing energy that is produced in some other fashion.
Or, at least, it was. I've been saying that for years, asking people to "show me a hydrogen mine" ... which was always meant as a kind of sarcastic joke to clarify why hydrogen doesn't count as an energy source.
I may have to quit using that argument, if they do actually find natural hydrogen deposits.
Interesting. Even if it can only produce a little, burning pure hydrogen would at least reduce CO2 emitting methane gas. Even replacing say, 5% of it would ease the effects of climate change.
That said, this could of course be weaponized as a 'solution' when the oil industry also needs to shrink regardless. Unfortunately, we already lost so much time that this shouldn't change the pressure on investing in all other renewables.
I feel that hydrogen for driving is pushed pretty hard by oil companies like Shell. It's pretty obvious, hydrogen is something you need to get at a gas station, while charging an electric car can be done at home, cheaply if you have solar panels.
Hydrogen is still a great solution for heating homes in the months when it's cold and there is very little sunshine, like autumn in Europe.
In the last few years most of the hydrogen talk I’ve heard is about industrial uses of hydrogen. 20 years ago somebody might have said electric cars weren’t practical but you can’t do that now.
Ironically, one major use of hydrogen is in oil refining. Remember that corporations are usually attributed to (1) the emissions directly from their operation and (2) emissions from their suppliers. It is the customers who burn the stuff so their customers get blamed.
I’d oil companies used green hydrogen in the refinery they’d eliminate the CO2 emissions from making hydrogen, oil refineries are also a good place to capture CO2 and inject it underground (already got amine strippers for other purposes, in the U.S. they are geographically clustered over favorable terrain) so they could keep selling gasoline but claim to be “net zero” themselves.
Fossil fuel companies have been pushing hydrogen because the easiest and most common way of producing it is by processing fossil fuels.
This is, of course, yet another way for them to cling to some variation of their existing business model, and hydrogen produced this way is basically useless for reducing fossil fuel use or Climate Change damage.
The better way to produce hydrogen is by electrolysis -- running electricity through water which causes it to break apart into oxygen and hydrogen. If the electricity is produced by renewable sources ... this is "green" hydrogen ... if the electricity is produced by burning fossil fuels ... then, again, it is just another roundabout way of perpetuating dependence on fossil fuels.
The most important point with hydrogen is that ... it is not an energy source. It is a different kind of "battery" for storing energy that is produced in some other fashion.
Or, at least, it was. I've been saying that for years, asking people to "show me a hydrogen mine" ... which was always meant as a kind of sarcastic joke to clarify why hydrogen doesn't count as an energy source.
I may have to quit using that argument, if they do actually find natural hydrogen deposits.