The main reason the hydrogen hype is in overdrive: Big Oil n Gas wants to make money converting fossil gas into hydrogen.
"Before looking at why legacy #automotive companies, resource tycoons and the politicians that represent them, have been such huge advocates for hydrogen-powered vehicles, it’s important to firstly outline why #hydrogen cars are so fundamentally flawed and will never come close to competing with #battery electric vehicles."
There is a place for #hydrogen. But blindly applying it everywhere turns it into a solution looking for a problem.
"According to the Renewable Energy Institute (REI), a Japanese environmental think tank, this push to use hydrogen in every conceivable energy sector is actually doing more harm than good. "
Everybody knows - I hope everybody knows - that fully two thirds of the energy you pour into the gasoline / diesel tank of your ICE car gets lost as heat. It's like buying three pounds of vegetables and immediately throwing out two before you start to cook with the remaining pound.
Turns, out, #hydrogen cars have the same inefficiency: 34% - 37%.
Battery e-cars have a 87% efficiency. The same solar field can power nearly three times more EVs than hydrogen cars.
I had hydrogen in my lab: in a little tube charged to "only" 300 psi. The safety officer was all over me (okay, all over my safety procedure).
And society is going to trust me, a mom, usually sleep deprived, distracted by gazillion little things, to refuel a hydrogen car myself without supervision? Welp.
And those hoses and fittings will never leak, right?
Double welp.
"A two-year-old project to run 51 #hydrogen#buses in the French city of #Montpellier and its environs has been cancelled for being too #expensive after elected officials realised that #electric buses would be six times cheaper to run.
It is much more efficient and cheaper to pump the #renewable electricity directly into a vehicle #battery."
It was always the #FossilFuel industry pushing for hydrogen even in places where it makes no sense. Now #DeSmog has the receipts.
"An intensive two-year #lobbying effort by a key #gas boiler industry organisation has been critical of #HeatPumps, and promoted #hydrogen for #HomeHeating to government and opposition parties, despite strong evidence of its unsuitability."
"With targets now set for the phase-out of #gas boilers in countries across #Europe, in recent years, gas companies in the #UK and the #EU have lobbied hard for #hydrogen over #HeatPumps – the model which offers the least disruption to their business model."
"A seductive hydrogen narrative has been replaced with one in which the fuel’s complexities and limitations are more apparent. But even its much reduced role could still prove challenging to deliver."
– Despite all the subsidies, the production is way less than needed for the 2030 goal;
– It's expensive, $200 /MWh
– Other tech has developed faster, e.g. batteries
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