Hydrogen

[sptrawler]

From Business Australian , it would seem that the reality has caught up with some of the hype.

Mick

The other factor that may come into play is, the wind farm generation may be required by the grid, hydrogen isn't going to be sensible until the grid load is adequately covered.
A lot of these things are pet projects, with no viable economic sense.

 

[Smurf1976]

The other factor that may come into play is, the wind farm generation may be required by the grid, hydrogen isn't going to be sensible until the grid load is adequately covered.
A lot of these things are pet projects, with no viable economic sense.

Most of the serious ones with detailed studies done have been on the basis of constant operation using externally firmed electricity supply.

Reason comes down to economics and business practicality. Selling a product with uncertain production volumes is somewhat problematic unless via a spot market, and that affects financial risk for the project when compared to a fixed contract arrangement based on firmed energy supply.

That plus simply the utilisation of the asset itself is obviously a lot higher with a constant energy supply.

 

[Dona Ferentes]

Germany still keen

Hydrogen: Germany reliant on emerging economies – DW – 07/26/2023

Revisiting its national hydrogen strategy (NHS), the German government foresees a huge need for hydrogen. It will need to import as much as 70% of it.

www.dw.com

 

[sptrawler]

Germany still keen

Hydrogen: Germany reliant on emerging economies – DW – 07/26/2023

Revisiting its national hydrogen strategy (NHS), the German government foresees a huge need for hydrogen. It will need to import as much as 70% of it.

www.dw.com

Anything in abundance with a high energy density and no emissions is going to have to be used, it will just be a matter of the economics of it, but eventually to supply our ever increasing wants all options will have to be deployed if humans want to survive.

 

[sptrawler]

MSN

www.msn.com

From the article:
In a watershed moment for aviation, the world's first piloted flights of an electric aircraft powered by liquid hydrogen have taken place.

H2fly, a developer of hydrogen-electric powertrain systems for aircraft based in Stuttgart, Germany, announced that its HY4 aircraft - fitted with a hydrogen-electric fuel cell propulsion system and cryogenically stored liquid hydrogen – completed four flights, including one that lasted for over three hours.

The hydrogen aircraft took off from Maribor in Slovenia and 'saw safe and efficient operation throughout multiple flight tests', H2fly said in a statement.

It continued: 'Results of the test flights indicate that using liquid hydrogen in place of gaseous hydrogen will double the maximum range of the HY4 aircraft from 750km (466 miles) to 1,500km (932 miles), marking a critical step towards the delivery of emissions-free, medium and long-haul commercial flights.'

Airline easyJet and manufacturers Airbus and Rolls-Royce are part of the new Hydrogen in Aviation (HIA) alliance, and are calling for more attention to be given to hydrogen as a way of decarbonising air travel.

 

[Knobby22]

MSN

www.msn.com

From the article:
In a watershed moment for aviation, the world's first piloted flights of an electric aircraft powered by liquid hydrogen have taken place.

H2fly, a developer of hydrogen-electric powertrain systems for aircraft based in Stuttgart, Germany, announced that its HY4 aircraft - fitted with a hydrogen-electric fuel cell propulsion system and cryogenically stored liquid hydrogen – completed four flights, including one that lasted for over three hours.

The hydrogen aircraft took off from Maribor in Slovenia and 'saw safe and efficient operation throughout multiple flight tests', H2fly said in a statement.

It continued: 'Results of the test flights indicate that using liquid hydrogen in place of gaseous hydrogen will double the maximum range of the HY4 aircraft from 750km (466 miles) to 1,500km (932 miles), marking a critical step towards the delivery of emissions-free, medium and long-haul commercial flights.'

Airline easyJet and manufacturers Airbus and Rolls-Royce are part of the new Hydrogen in Aviation (HIA) alliance, and are calling for more attention to be given to hydrogen as a way of decarbonising air travel.

Been done before!

 

[sptrawler]

Been done before!

View attachment 162290

Yes what a great show, it really went off.
That was 90 years ago, we can do it bigger and better now. Lol

 

[Dona Ferentes]

Tasmanian Energy Minister Guy Barnett announced last week that a coming round of grants for hydrogen projects would be exclusively focused on projects that sell the clean fuel to consumers inside the island state.

While the grants are expected to be small, the exclusive focus on domestic hydrogen consumption shapes as a big win for small companies such as Countrywide Hydrogen, and a freezing-out of bigger players like Fortescue*, Woodside** and Origin Energy***..

“The development of a domestic market for the use of locally produced renewable hydrogen will play a critical role in establishing a viable renewable hydrogen industry in Tasmania,” Mr Barnett said in announcing the grants.

“It will be the latest step in the Rockliff Liberal government’s plan to become a leader in green hydrogen production, and for locally produced renewable hydrogen to be a significant form of energy used in Tasmania by 2030.”
.
*rentseeker
**rentseeker
***rentseeker

 

[sptrawler]

Tasmanian Energy Minister Guy Barnett announced last week that a coming round of grants for hydrogen projects would be exclusively focused on projects that sell the clean fuel to consumers inside the island state.

While the grants are expected to be small, the exclusive focus on domestic hydrogen consumption shapes as a big win for small companies such as Countrywide Hydrogen, and a freezing-out of bigger players like Fortescue*, Woodside** and Origin Energy***..

“The development of a domestic market for the use of locally produced renewable hydrogen will play a critical role in establishing a viable renewable hydrogen industry in Tasmania,” Mr Barnett said in announcing the grants.

“It will be the latest step in the Rockliff Liberal government’s plan to become a leader in green hydrogen production, and for locally produced renewable hydrogen to be a significant form of energy used in Tasmania by 2030.”
.
*rentseeker
**rentseeker
***rentseeker

Must be looking to diversify away from basket weaving.
This is the sort of market niche players like Hazer will be looking to break into, where they are mitigating waste methane.
But from memory I think @Smurf1976 mentioned a hydrogen project at Bell Bay.
I guess Tasmania is worried that renewable hydrogen projects are developed on the mainland, while using Tasmania's hydro electricity to manufacture it.
Interesting times, everyone is jockeying for position, at the start line.

 

[Dona Ferentes]

Must be looking to diversify away from basket weaving.
This is the sort of market niche players like Hazer will be looking to break into, where they are mitigating waste methane.
But from memory I think @Smurf1976 mentioned a hydrogen project at Bell Bay.
I guess Tasmania is worried that renewable hydrogen projects are developed on the mainland, while using Tasmania's hydro electricity to manufacture it.
Interesting times, everyone is jockeying for position, at the start line.

ignoring the gratuitous slur ... from post #4998 in the FMG thread.

Hutchinson outlined a typical plan for financing the first five clean energy projects, where approximately 60 percent of the construction cost would be funded through non-recourse debt. The remaining 40 percent might be raised by selling equity stakes in the projects to sovereign wealth funds, ranging from 50 percent to 75 percent.

In a bid to reduce risk, Fortescue does not intend to build renewable power assets for these projects but plans to purchase clean power from other sources.

..hence my comment earlier, about the big boys coming and wanting to capture a finite but renewing resource which is hydro power.
Resource nationalism , local style

 

[basilio]

What if one could just drill for hydrogen ? Like oil or natural gas ? It exists. It may even be plentiful.

Prospectors hit the gas in the hunt for ‘white hydrogen’

The zero-emission fuel may exist in abundant reserves below ground. Now large sums are being invested to look for it

www.theguardian.com

 

[mullokintyre]

In news overseas where Hydrogen usage was probably a little more advanced, there seems to be a bit of a pullback.
Firstly, from The UK Prodriver comes news that Shell has closed its Hydrogen filling stations due to lack of demand.

Shell has closed its hydrogen filling stations at Gatwick airport and at Cobham (pictured) and Beaconsfield motorway services, citing a lack of demand for the service. In a statement, the oil giant said sites had “not performed satisfactorily” and had “reached an end of life”.

Now another UK Hydrogen supplier has followed suite.
From Innovations UK

Motive Fuels, a leading UK hydrogen refuelling station operator, recently announced the closure of two of its London-based stations as it shifts its focus toward providing hydrogen refuelling for large commercial vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Although the company has invested over £2 million annually since 2019 in light vehicle fuelling stations designed primarily for cars, it has determined that the current demand for hydrogen fuel cell-powered cars is insufficient to sustain these pumps.

The company’s decision is in line with the UK Hydrogen Strategy, which predicts that hydrogen will play a significant role in powering heavier transport modes by 2030.

Insufficient demand for hydrogen in passenger vehicles
The recent closures of Motive Fuels’ hydrogen refuelling stations in Rainham and Teddington highlight a significant challenge for hydrogen adoption in passenger vehicles. Despite investing over £2 million annually in car-focused stations, Motive Fuels has found that demand is insufficient to sustain these operations. This comes on the heels of Shell’s decision to close all its UK hydrogen filling stations in October 2022, citing that the prototype technology had reached its end of life.

It may be premature to write the obituaqry for hydrogen as a vehicle fuel, but it should be noted that the number of hydrogen filling stations in the UK has declined from 15 in 2021 to just 5 today. There are nearly 60,000 EV charging stations in the UK.

Finally, the Danish company Evergreen will close all of its unprofitable Hydrogen refuelling stations.
From H2 View

Danish green hydrogen player Everfuel has revealed it will decommission its “unprofitable” legacy hydrogen refuelling stations for cars as it refocuses on green hydrogen production.

The company in its Q2 2023 financial results said it would prioritise the development of green hydrogen production capacity and reduce refuelling network investments by high grading its hydrogen station portfolio.

Despite highlighting success and progress with its HySynergy production project in Frederica, Denmark, Everfuel founder and CEO, Jacob Krogsgaard, said, “The mobility market is set to remain sub-scale for some time.”

Part of the Danish problem is that because leaks were found in the tanker valves, it has not been able to refuel the service stations where the 167 hydrogen powered Danish cars were refilling.
Perhaps its just teething problems.
Mick

 

[basilio]

One of the big pieces of news is the development of 100MW prebuilt electrolyzers. Just require assembly. The premise and promise of Electric Hydrogen is that they have developed the most efficient unit and can deliver it engineered and pre assembled.

FMG has bought into the company as a lead investor and will be taking 1 Gw of electrolyzers as an initial order.

According to the Electric Hydrogen website mass production of the electroloyzers will commence in 2024. Frankly I think there is a fair bit of water to flow before we see these fully fledged 100 MW units in operation. They have pilot plants but it would be an amazing achievement to go to full giga factory production without normal engineering hitches.

Factory 1 Devens, MA ​

Located 30 minutes from Boston and our Natick office, our Devens Giga-Factory is where high-volume electrolyzer stack manufacturing will start up at the beginning of 2024. It will use advanced manufacturing and process technology. The Devens factory will have an annual manufacturing capacity of 1.2GW.

Sitefinity trial version

Electric Hydrogen's 100MW Electrolyzer Plant

We engineer, manufacture and deliver complete 100MW electrolyzer plants to enable low-cost green hydrogen production.

eh2.com

 

[mullokintyre]

The economic reality of Hydrogen continues to hit home in a few countries.
From Transport Environment



mick

 

[mullokintyre]

The economic reality of Hydrogen continues to hit home in a few countries.
From Transport Environment
View attachment 165335
View attachment 165336

mick

Germany has now joined the list of countries scaling back on hydrogen prouction due to high construction costs.
From Renew Economy


It seems a consistent theme.
Whatever method is chosen to replace fossil fuels, the costs just seem to mount.
Mick

 

[eskys]

So, not all big ideas from deep pockets are a good idea?

 

[basilio]

I wouldn't write off Hydrogen so quickly. There is much more happening in the field that is making Hydrogen cost effective.
This review highlights these developments

 

[basilio]

This is the short story on Hystata

Our Technology – Hysata

hysata.com

​

 

[Dona Ferentes]

a view
.

Green hydrogen faces challenges​

By Peter Milios |

Australia's ambitious plans to replace gas exports with green hydrogen could be hindered by the immense scale of transmission lines required to establish a thriving renewable export sector, warns the Australian Energy Market Operator.

The success of transforming Australia's abundant solar and wind energy into hydrogen exports or reviving downstream resources processing, such as aluminum production, largely depends on the price and stability of the power grid. However, AEMO's latest draft integrated system plan, scheduled for release on Friday, paints a daunting picture. It suggests that billions of dollars must be invested in transmission infrastructure to connect renewable energy zones to production hubs near major ports if Australia is to harness green energy's potential for boosting the national economy.

The report advances AEMO's predictions for the decline of coal in the National Electricity Market (NEM) by five years compared to the 2022 system plan. It underscores the need for a rapid acceleration in the deployment of new renewable energy generation, firming options, and transmission infrastructure to meet the federal government's ambitious target of achieving 82 percent renewable energy by 2030.

According to the report, approximately 6 gigawatts of new renewable energy must be added to the NEM in the coming decade to replace coal generation, representing a 50 percent increase above the current rollout rate. AEMO also suggests an increased requirement for rapid-reaction gas turbines, with the draft 2024 ISP raising its forecast for backup gas-powered generation capacity to 16 gigawatts by 2050, up from the 10 gigawatts projected in the 2022 ISP.

However, the report also highlights the risks associated with delays in constructing the new transmission infrastructure essential for connecting renewable energy zones to the grid and replacing coal-fired generators. It emphasizes the need for a careful balance between ensuring a stable power supply and rushing the transition process. Market rules, global supply chains, policies, and community engagement must align to ensure the success of Australia's energy transition.

Already, the installation of new high-voltage lines across farmland in New South Wales and Victoria has faced opposition from farming groups and is emerging as a contentious political issue in the lead-up to the next federal election.

The challenges are considerable, with the 2024 Draft ISP estimating that nearly 10,000 kilometres of transmission will be required by 2050. Approximately 5,000 kilometres of this transmission must be implemented in the next decade, including around 4,000 kilometres of new transmission corridors and the upgrade of about 1,000 kilometres of existing lines. To support green energy exports, this infrastructure will need to more than double its capacity and be rolled out at a significantly faster pace.

Under AEMO's green energy export model, renewable energy generation must increase to 550 gigawatts by 2050, with around 200 gigawatts expected to come online quickly enough to see the last coal-fired power station exit the NEM by the early 2030s.

The modelling also suggests that green hydrogen hubs at major industrial sites may struggle to secure affordable energy if the substantial generation capacity required to support hydrogen production and cost-effective manufacturing cannot be connected to the grid in a timely manner. The inability to access affordable green energy recently influenced decisions by Fortescue and Incitec, who postponed their investment plans for green ammonia production.

Simultaneously, Fortescue has decided to move forward with a small hydrogen production plant in Gladstone, Queensland, where Powerlink has recently upgraded transmission infrastructure, providing a glimmer of hope amidst the transmission challenges that Australia's green energy ambitions face.

 

[Dona Ferentes]

and then ...... there's

.

Meet the boffins and buccaneers drilling for hydrogen​

A motley crew of hydrogen hunters are searching for “natural” hydrogen, which they believe is more common than is widely supposed.

The Economist
30 Jan , 2024

″I believe that water will one day be employed as fuel, that hydrogen and oxygen, which constitute it, used singly or together, will furnish an inexhaustible source of heat and light.” So wrote Jules Verne in 1875. Visionaries and cranks have long searched for cheap ways to manufacture hydrogen, with limited success. Now the world is once more hyperventilating about the simplest element, but with a twist. Some modern visionaries don’t want to make it; they want to drill for it. A rush is starting for colourless gold.

Unlike actual gold, hydrogen is spectacularly useful. As a fuel, in theory it could power cars, buses, planes and ships. It could be burned in power plants, generating electricity. And because, unlike fossil fuels, it emits no greenhouse gases, it could help curb climate change (so long as it is cleanly obtained).
Governments are throwing subsidies at efforts to make hydrogen fuel. The US Inflation Reduction Act offers lavish support for producing it cleanly from fossil fuels (which involves the clunky process of capturing and sequestering the carbon dioxide byproduct), as well as from carbon-free nuclear power and renewables (which requires lots of energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen via electrolysis).
The snag is that making hydrogen in any of these ways is costly, and likely to remain so for years. Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe but, says the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory, “typically does not exist freely” on Earth. It is normally found bound up with oxygen, as water, or carbon, as hydrocarbons. Releasing the hydrogen can require lots of energy, complicated kit and hassle.
So a motley crew of hydrogen hunters are searching for “natural” (or “geological”) hydrogen, which they believe is more common than is widely supposed. To those who dismiss them as dreamers, they point out that the notion of plentiful oil in the ground was once dismissed as crackpot, too.

‘King of hydrogen’​

In the middle of the 19th century, the world faced an energy crisis. Whale oil was in short supply. Some thought petroleum might work as a replacement, but many attempts to dig for it had flopped. When Edwin Drake proposed drilling for oil in Pennsylvania, investors mocked the notion: “Oil coming out of the ground...? Nonsense! You’re crazy.” Then, one day in 1859, Drake hit a gusher, and the oil age began.
Could something similar happen with hydrogen? In a small way, it already has. In 1987, in Bourakebougou, in a remote corner of Mali in West Africa, locals searching for water drilled 100 metres down and, since the hole was dry, gave up. Then, to their surprise, a mysterious emission from that hole caught fire. The well was quickly capped and forgotten – until a sparky local businessman came along.

“I want to be the king of hydrogen!” bellows Aliou Diallo. The son of a railway worker in Mali, Diallo made his first fortune investing in distressed debt, parlayed those winnings into industrial concessions, and went on to acquire a gold mine. He has dabbled in politics, despite the dangers in a coup-prone country like Mali, running for president in 2018 and coming a respectable third. But now he has given up politics to concentrate on hydrogen.

By happenstance, the hydrogen-emitting hole in Bourakebougou was within an oil and gas concession that had been granted to a company run by Diallo. The villagers, seeing flames shooting out of the ground, assumed the place was cursed. Diallo, who is not superstitious, decided to investigate. Tests confirmed that the well was producing 98 per cent pure hydrogen. Diallo brought in equipment from Canada to do more drilling and testing. A coup in 2012 spooked outsiders, but he forged ahead. Now those villagers have reliable light and power day and night – a rarity in rural Mali.
The well tapped into a large reservoir of natural hydrogen that continues to flow to this day. Diallo’s company drilled over two dozen more wells, from shallow ones akin to the first water well to ones 1800 metres deep, to map and master the geology. Hoping to replicate his success elsewhere, he has set up a company called Hydroma in Canada to scour more stable countries for the gas. (Mali has had two more coups since 2020.) “Hydrogen is the gamechanger for humanity,” he says.

He is no longer alone in this view. Hydrogen has been found in Australia, France, the US, Brazil, Colombia and Oman. A place in Turkey thought to be the location of the original Olympic flame has burned for millennia thanks to an energy source now known to be rich in hydrogen. The mid-Atlantic ridge and the African rift valley emit the gas. And mysterious surface formations known as “fairy circles”, spotted in the Carolinas, Poland and Western Australia, also appear to seep it.
Why have these hydrogen sources not previously been noticed? It may seem odd, but big oil companies never looked for hydrogen or deployed sensors to detect it. Geoffrey Ellis of the US Geological Survey (USGS) adds that, as well as being odourless and colourless, the gas is often gobbled up by microbes below the surface. So prospectors may have to drill with the explicit intention of detecting hydrogen if they are to find what is hidden under their noses.

The benefits of bad Soviet science​

In 2020, Viacheslav Zgonnik, a chemist of Ukrainian origin, published a review of academic literature showing that “molecular hydrogen is much more widespread in nature than was previously thought.” Earlier Western scholars had focused on papers in English. Dr Zgonnik, who is fluent in Russian, scoured the undigitised, untranslated paper archives of the old Soviet Union for clues. After reviewing more than 500 studies, he had a breakthrough.
Much of the relevant field research over the past century took place in the Soviet Union and was largely unknown to Western researchers. Soviet engineers often found hydrogen not because they wanted it but because they had a different (and now debunked) theory of how petroleum originates. They believed it was generated from inorganic matter rather than crunched-up dinosaur bones. On this view, carbon from the earth’s mantle would interact with hydrogen deep underground to produce hydrocarbons, so it made sense to look for hydrogen as a telltale sign of petroleum.
There are, by one estimate, more than a dozen ways that hydrogen might occur naturally, but only a handful seem likely to yield commercially extractable deposits. The most promising, says Dr Zgonnik, is serpentinisation: iron-rich rocks below the Earth’s surface react with very hot water to produce iron oxide and hydrogen gas – in effect, rusting. This reaction has been well studied. Dr Zgonnik’s company, Natural Hydrogen Energy, has identified a likely spot in Nebraska and drilled the world’s first wildcat well for hydrogen, to a depth of some 3400 metres. Though the pandemic and financial constraints have slowed it down (“very few investors are willing to take this kind of risk,” he sighs), with new partners the company plans to drill again soon at the site.

Another theory, deep-seated formation, holds that hydrogen is produced deep in the earth’s core or mantle, and seeps up to the surface as it rides along cracks. Yet another, known as radiolysis, proposes that energy from radioactive rocks splits water into hydrogen and oxygen deep underground. However hydrogen is formed, its molecules are so small and slippery that it can easily seep its way to the surface unless it is either caught in a trap (say, under an impermeable salt layer) or consumed by microbes.
Since the publication of Dr Zgonnik’s article, interest in hydrogen has been fizzing. The Geological Society of London attracted over 200 experts to a conference on the topic in July. The US Department of Energy, while still pumping billions of dollars into schemes to manufacture hydrogen, has come to the view that “large quantities of geologic hydrogen [probably] exist in the Earth’s subsurface.”

Dr Ellis of the USGS reckons there could be enough to power the global economy for centuries. The USGS will soon publish an assessment of the most promising locations – in other words, a treasure map.
The search for hydrogen is attracting millions of dollars in investment, says S&P Global, a financial-data firm. Australian explorers such as HyTerra and Gold Hydrogen have raised millions more through public offerings. Other efforts are funded by government grants or quiet money from oil and mining giants. Koloma, a secretive start-up based in Denver, recently attracted $US91 million ($135 million) in funding from the venture-investment arm of Breakthrough Energy, a climate-innovation organisation started by Bill Gates.

Talking to The Economist on the sidelines of the UN climate conference, Gates said of natural hydrogen: “It could be gigantic, or it could be a bust, but if it’s really there... wow!” That is why he is betting on Koloma, which rejects trial and error in favour of a rigorous scientific framework. At Ohio State University Tom Darrah, the company’s chief technology officer, and a team of researchers are working feverishly in an ordinary-looking cinderblock building. Dr Darrah has drawn up his own map of where he thinks natural hydrogen can be found. He says there is “very little overlap” with where oil and gas are found.
Asked what his theory of the case is, the bespectacled academic leaps to the whiteboard and starts scribbling. “We use the smarts [Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-Bound goals] approach,” he explains, which is inspired by the subsurface modelling used by the oil industry. By applying “hydrogen smarts”, his company is looking for the best source rock that might contain hydrogen, finding traps and seals on top, and using his long experience in research to validate findings quickly in the laboratory.
When the USGS releases its treasure map, it will point wildcatting rivals in the right direction. However, he insists, his company has an edge thanks to its systemic approach, which includes improved detection tools, reservoir simulation and in-situ stimulation of hydrogen. He says he knows “what scientific questions to ask” to find “real drillable areas”.
In his spare time, Dr Darrah hunts deer with a bow and arrow. (He says he gets some of his best ideas in the woods.) At work, he is hunting something bigger. He does not want another Mali; he wants to find the Saudi Arabia of hydrogen, perhaps in America. It might, however, be in Australia.

The green baron​

“I have a rather unpopular view that science and innovation are likely to come to our rescue on climate, rather as they did over COVID,” says Baron Howard of Lympne. Michael Howard, as he used to be known, has been an oilman, an opposition leader and Britain’s environment minister. Now he is chairman of Earth Source Hydrogen, a start-up looking for the elusive gas in Australia. He insists his company is not wildcatting randomly, but rather applying for licences in promising areas and doing desktop exercises before drilling. It is eyeing areas close to big mining operations, which might want to buy the fuel if he finds any.
With enough hydrogen, you can do anything
Dr Ellis of the USGS calls Australia “one of the hottest areas for exploration”. An Australian competitor, Gold Hydrogen, has just set the industry ablaze. Nearly a century ago, diggers struck hydrogen in southern Australia and, unusually, took careful notes. After looking at those notes, which showed extremely high concentrations of the gas, Gold Hydrogen decided to drill at the same location. Neil McDonald, the company’s boss, reports ecstatically that the initial data from drilling in October show that hydrogen levels are still high there, just as they were in 1931. That suggests a long-term source or large reservoir, he reckons. The gas can probably be tapped directly, with no need for fracking or other complicated processes to flush it out.
The most basic question has been answered, says Philip Ball of the Clean Air Task Force, an American environmental group. “We are rapidly converging on agreement that a lot of hydrogen exists,” he says, “as we find the stuff everywhere.” The question now is whether it can be exploited.
Great uncertainty remains about whether any of the hydrogen dreamers’ dreams can be realised. But it is possible that a cheap, low-carbon fuel could be widely available at some point in the future.
Hydrogen has the highest energy density of all chemical fuels and is also very reactive, says Eric Toone, chief technology officer of Breakthrough Energy. This makes it potent. It could be used to make essential but currently dirty things such as liquid fuels, steel and ammonia.
With enough hydrogen, Dr Toone reckons it might be possible to make starch without photosynthesis, which would revolutionise agriculture. Only nuclear fusion has a comparable potential, he says, and he thinks hydrogen is a less risky bet. “If you have enough hydrogen and it is cheap enough, you can do literally anything,” he summarises. Jules Verne would surely agree.