Q117. Part 2. China's SUCCESSFUL first HYDROGEN FUEL CELL SHIP completes maiden voyage. Hydrogen is cleaner than oil? Is hydrogen free?
(www.chinadaily.com.cn)
Q-analysis?
You're viewing a single comment thread. View all comments, or full comment thread.
Comments (41)
sorted by:
"Hydrogen Fuel Cell" is just a battery; and it's an inefficient battery, far less efficient than the typical Lithium battery you find in a Tesla.
The advantage to a HFC is you can fill up the tank with liquid hydrogen (just like filling up a gas tank), but the disadvantage is hydrogen is made by running LOTS of electricity through distilled water; this breaks the water molecules into their component Hydrogen and Oxygen atoms. You need to produce a lot of electricity to produce the hydrogen, then use a lot more electricity to cool it enough that it condenses to liquid. When put into a tank, that liquid hydrogen produces a moderate amount of electricity in a HFC.
Fair point, but now think of the amount of energy needed to create each gallon of gasoline or diesel. Just because we've refined and optimized the process and it takes place behind the scenes n most ways, doesn't mean the tremendous expenditures don't exist in pumping the oil, transporting it, refinement, transport again, then more processing/mixing, then transportation to a distribution center, then delivery. That's just to a gas station.
The real issue isn't emissions, that is just a smoke screen (pun intended).
The issue is, once the initial infrastructure is built out, is the sustained creation of the fluid justified in lower costs, and less overall energy to create the product.
Secondary concerns include stable storage, distribution, volume of product supply meeting demand, disaster impact and recovery and containment considerations, cost analysis along the entire supply chain, etc.
Emissions is more for the politicians to figure out.