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Russia war in Ukraine driving nascent hydrogen economy

7 Comments
By Ben PERRY

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Green hydrogen should really be a big part of the energy solution, but suffers the same fate as electric cars back a couple of decades ago. It threatens the incumbents (fossils, hydro etc.) and is constantly fighting off incumbents attempts to destroy any green shoots.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

That’s the typical calculation method of all those greenies. So it costs only a few pounds to fill up this guy’s car, nice for him, but how expensive and how many resources does cost the neighboring plant to produce his cheaper hydrogen fuel? And who else pays for that all, so he has the small benefits? The tax payers, the plant owners or investors, putting it onto the prices of their other products and customers? It’s much too simple and very cheap propaganda, just to only say that a few persons can fill their cars now cheaply at half of the usual gasoline costs.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

So it costs only a few pounds to fill up this guy’s car, nice for him, but how expensive and how many resources does cost the neighboring plant to produce his cheaper hydrogen fuel? 

The maritime industry is counting heavily on hydrogen or hydrogen / ammonia mixtures to decarbonize global shipping. To that end European companies at the behest of some very big shipyards and shipping lines are testing hydrogen and ammonia plants that run exclusively on renewable energy, meaning wind, solar and hydro power. They accept that they will not be able to produce at full capacity, or even at any capacity when renewable energy is not available (calm night) if they are able to produce enough of these two fuels when energy is available. The big Finnish engine builder Wartsila is testing engines on hydrogen, ammonia and mixtures of the two to see which works best. It is very likely you will see the technology that comes from this effort applied to railroad locomotives, some construction equipment and long haul trucking.

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No, I surely won’t see much of all those many new technology attempts in practice or widespread application. That’s physically, energetically and under consideration of really needed resources just impossible. But maybe I have to pay much taxes for them and also stand the daily green propaganda of how wonderful they all are and have great potential to save the planet. (which they only have in the heads of their developers and the phantasies of their shareholding investors who draw out their big money out of the public tax pool for nothing substantial)

0 ( +0 / -0 )

No, I surely won’t see much of all those many new technology attempts in practice or widespread application. 

The first ammonia and hydrogen powered merchant ships are under construction right now. Pilot plants in the EU are making green hydrogen and ammonia from renewable energy right now. The Swedes are demonstrating a new way to make steel using renewable energy that doesn't require coking coal. The plant is built and is making steel. This is today, the here and now.

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And by the way your taxes are not paying for this. It is driven by the UN IMO requirements that merchant shipping worldwide reduce their carbon footprint in the near term and eventually to zero. It is big firms like Maersk Lines, CMA CGM and Wartsila who are investing their money in these technologies because they know the payback will be substantial and it will keep them in business into the future.

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I wrote I won’t see much of that. Of course they run a few test balloons to attract more publicity and investments from public or private entities. And second, if it all isn’t paid by taxes then the lower carbon footprint requirements you wrote about are still not for free, but have to paid by much higher transportation costs put onto the prices for the last ones in the product chain , the buyer or final consumer. The companies you wrote about also do not invest money for fun , for nature and environment, or for nothing, they just want in return a remarkable profit. If the UN IMO would have to pay for their agenda and requirements themselves they would of course not put it in whatever small reality attempts and keep it instead secretly in their desks. It’s very easy to demand something, but let only everyone else pay for it.

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