The Role of Hydrogen in Our Quest for Clean Energy

Those for whom this is a new idea will benefit from this article on hydrogen, and how it’s part of Big Oil’s masterplan to forestall “the electrification of everything.”  The generation of electricity from low carbon sources like solar, wind, and hydro is getting less expensive with each passing year, and advanced nuclear holds a great deal of potential as well.  Meanwhile, the storage of whatever electrical energy that cannot be consumed in real time, in batteries, pumped hydro and the like, is making fantastic advancements as well.

So where does hydrogen fit into this?  Actually, nowhere.

Energy can be used to isolate hydrogen molecules (H2) from water or methane, but:

• Methane reformation, which accounts for 95% of the hydrogen production in the U.S., also produces CO2.

• These processes are inefficient, meaning that a great deal, as much as 40%, of the energy going in is not recovered in the H2.

• The fuel cells that are used to extract the energy in the H2 in the form of electricity are both expensive and fragile.

• The fuel delivery structure for H2 is extremely feeble, and building it out will be prohibitively expensive, not to mention unnecessary, given the ubiquity of the electrical grid.  As the EV folks like to say, “You can unplug your toaster and plug in your car.”

As suggested in “Who Killed the Electric Car,” the 2006 documentary film that explored the creation, limited commercialization, and subsequent destruction of the battery electric vehicle in the late 1990s, Big Oil is rightfully accused of using hydrogen as a red herring, taking public attention away from phasing out fossil fuels.