Quote:
Originally Posted by zamler
That's not the worst part. If all we had to do was split the atom and call it day then it could be viable. But we have to split the atom, pressurize, transport, pressurize again. Then pressurize again into a car. And hope nothing leaks along the way.
It's a bad system. Maybe, maybe one day it be viable for extremely large transport vehicles.
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The thing is is that everyone looks at everything based on pure efficiency vs also figuring out the excess and losses outside of those systems. Hydrogen isn't the most efficient at all times for just motor vehicles, but it makes the most sense big picture for more than motor vehicles. Especially if you one day think of a more energy/fuel topography/geography or even energy seasons (ie: Summer v Winter for solar).
Imagine a world where you 3D print what you need regularly and stop inefficient transport of heavy ubiquitous things like water. Kinda like shipping shipping a condensed syrup vs bottles and cans of a product.
IMO the next path that some people are envisioning is basically 3D print your own stored power/fuel from a power line in a power grid and transporting electricity is cheaper than transporting fuel like an O&G pipeline/plane/truck etc.
TBH, when it was first described to me, it sounded super weird. But the more I think about it, it feels like a spin on the "old is new" some things previously considered inefficient, is more efficient or effective on a larger scale.
Like, ignoring whether or not you want people being able to produce their own hydrogen on a large scale, isn't it more efficient to send electricity to a house that has a module that can store that energy in a hydrogen fuel cell vs millions of people spending energy and fuel to get to centralized locations to get that hydrogen/hydrogen fuel cell and transport that fuel + storage device back home? The motor vehicle part might be more inefficient for electricity to hydrogen + cell container then vice versa before using, but everything else combined in these "cycles" might be more efficient than using battery blocks (ie: Lithium) and electricity. I think that's what the picture people are envisioning and the rest of us are struggling to understand.