The Washington Post reported on a new company dedicated to making hydroget for the green economy. It doesn’t work yet, and I think it will be very expensive, therefore limiting hydrogen to those uses that must have thermal energy, as opposed to electrical energy. The plant separates water (H2O) into its components, hydrogen and oxygen. The trouble is that it takes a lot of energy to separate them. The article says:
Turning hydrogen into liquid fuel could help slash planet-warming pollution from heavy vehicles, cutting a key source of emissions that contribute to climate change. But to fulfill that promise, companies will have to build massive numbers of wind turbines and solar panels to power the energy-hungry process. Regulators will have to make sure hydrogen production doesn’t siphon green energy that could go towards cleaning up other sources of global warming gases, such as homes or factories.
To be “green,” hydrogen must be produced by green energy, probably solar or wind. It would required a huge increase in those energy sources, which are already in demand for other uses like lighting homes and cities, powering electric vehicles and manufacturing procresses that can use electricity.
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