RE rent seekers are touting hydrogen gas produced with unpredictable and unreliable wind and solar power as the next ‘green’ energy Nirvana.
If producing industrial volumes of hydrogen using electricity were even vaguely economic, then the obvious way of doing so would be to use coal-fired power; the cheapest and most reliable power source, of all.
But that’s not the point and purpose of the great hydrogen hoax. This is about corporate greed and rent seeking.
The rules of physics (not least thermodynamics) means that, whatever the power source, more energy will be expended than will ever be returned from the process of turning electricity into hydrogen gas, storing and distributing it. Which means it will not result in a net energy benefit.
Because the whole thing is a pipe dream, no one pushing the “let’s turn wind and solar power into hydrogen” line has bothered with the Energy Return On Investment or EROI – the ratio between the energy delivered by a particular fuel source to society and the energy invested in the capture and delivery of that energy.
Oh, almost forgot to mention a couple of other laws of physics – the storage and distribution of hydrogen gas is not without its challenges. Attempting to contain the gas in large volumes comes with the threat of industrial scale explosions, thanks to its the low ignition point and highly combustible nature, and also because it tends to leak easily from tanks. More than a few hydrogen storage facilities and filling stations have exploded – as to which, see below the image from Norway where one went up with one hell of a bang.
When it comes to promoting the hydrogen hoax, Australia’s rent seeking crowd are hard at it; but the Germans appear to have seized the lead on pushing the most ridiculous proposition ever put forward by the green energy cult. Eric Worral reports.
Germany’s Climate Friendly Hydrogen Strategy
Watts Up With That?
Eric Worall
15 June 2020
Germany has affirmed its climate leadership by announcing a plan to embrace a hydrogen-powered future. But nobody can explain where they will get all the hydrogen.
Germany plans to spend billions funding green hydrogen
Up to 2030, Germany’s federal government wants to establish 5 GW in electrolysis capacity, only to be doubled again in the subsequent five years. The country acknowledges that it will also need outside help to achieve the goal.
BY MAZ PLECHINGER Published: 10.06.20 at 13:54
…
“As the first step in accelerating the market for hydrogen technologies, a strong, sustainable production and consumption – a ‘home market’ – is crucial. A robust national market will also create a signal effect for the use of hydrogen technologies internationally,” the federal government writes in the strategy.
Mainly in its steel and chemical sectors, Germany already uses significant volumes of industrial hydrogen, although the resource is currently derived from natural gas rather than renewable power and water.
…
Doesn’t cover requirement
Precisely how Germany will build the bridge to economic viability is not revealed in the plan, which does, however, mention that Berlin is considering a tax exemption for electricity used for hydrogen production – not least giving a tax pass to green H2 from the Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz (EEG) fee that’s used to finance the green energy transition and which had EUR 11 billion earmarked in connection with the economic recovery plan as an aid ceiling.
Another top limit is how much green hydrogen Germany will be able to produce itself. When the offshore wind build-out target for 2030 was recently raised by 5 GW to 15 GW, and the 52 GW solar cap was scrapped, green hydrogen production was one factor given consideration.
But even though 5 GW of electrolysis in the hydrogen strategy multiplies current domestic capacity 200 fold, the government says this is grossly inadequate to cover demand. According to the strategy, 5 GW of electrolysis is enough to produce 14 TWh made from 20 TWh of renewable energy – while the requirement for the resource is estimated to be 90-110 TWh.
The renewable energy powered hydrogen economy takes expensive renewable electricity, and discards 60% of the energy in the form of conversion losses. Ignoring compression, storage and transport losses; electrolysis (80% efficient) x Fuel cell (50% efficient) = 40% (60% lost) – 40% efficiency end to end hydrogen conversion makes hydrogen at least 2.5x more expensive than the original renewable energy used to produce the hydrogen (1/0.4 = 2.5).
There are lots of wild claims these days that renewables are incredibly cheap – but renewables still seem to require a lot of government life support, either directly through subsidies or by forcing distributors to purchase a fixed quota of renewable energy.
No doubt adding the expense of converting the electricity to hydrogen and back to electricity will make it all better.
The German publication DW understands;
“But despite being a promising energy carrier in a low-carbon energy system, green hydrogen is still facing significant technical and commercial challenges. Its disadvantages like weak energy efficiency and huge infrastructure requirements could be overwhelming outside a few core uses.“
STOP THESE THINGS 
A few years ago when this thought bubble raised it’s head, hydrogen used for transport was calculated to cost at least 5 times that of our current fuel costs – and that was calculated at a much higher oil price. And that doesn’t cover the infrastructure costs and the safety issues.
Regarding explosions…
When folks consider the Space Shuttle Challenger’s disastrous launch in 1986 they usually think about leaking O’rings on the solid rocket boosters.
However, the shuttle was doing just fine until the hot gas jet from the leaking O’ring penetrated the giant hydrogen tank that fueled the shuttle’s main engines. That’s when the whole shuttle exploded and disintegrated.
Once again, stepping into the smoke filled chamber of life. Excellent post. Thanks, J.C.
Reblogged this on Gds44's Blog.
Given the figures in the article, in the event that surplus energy from say wind turbines in SA is used to produce hydrogen gas in Queensland, then more than 50% will be lost in transmission. Then if that hydrogen is used to produce electricity for Victoria or some other distant place, then 40% efficiently looks more like 10% efficient or 10 ten times the price of ‘cheap’ renewables…
Ah what a good look backwards could do to prevent stupid silly people coming up with all this nonsense.
It seems so long ago but is actually quite recent that the Industrial Wind Turbine pandemic began with the cry from the dazed and wind blinded/blown idiots that they were the answer to all our wows.
We were told these Massive Industrial Turbines would be able to provide all the energy we needed!!!!
Yes, they really did say there was no need for backup generation that could be called on at the touch of a button.
Then then came the first Big Battery to store energy to help smooth the irregular flow of Industrial Wind Turbines so the grid would not fail.
Then the cry went out for groups of homeowners to install solar AND battery’s where the stored energy could be called on to ‘save the day’ when either the wind failed or it was producing erratically.
Of course going on the background there was the push for Massive Industrial sized Solar arrays which of course would be able to provide energy when the wind was sloppy or non existent – but hay, they also need battery’s to store excess – if there is any, for those times when Wind and Solar are absenting themselves.
And now we have this nonsense about how Hydrogen created from Industrial Wind Turbines is going to save the day!!!!
Surely if they cannot keep up with the supply we already require they cannot be relied on to be operating sufficiently to create hydrogen or anything else that tweaks the whimsical minds of these wanna be experts.
The mind boggles at what is likely to spill out of their tiny wee brains next.
Reblogged this on ajmarciniak and commented:
RE rent seekers are touting hydrogen gas produced with unpredictable and unreliable wind and solar power as the next ‘green’ energy Nirvana.
If producing industrial volumes of hydrogen using electricity were even vaguely economic, then the obvious way of doing so would be to use coal-fired power; the cheapest and most reliable power source, of all.
But that’s not the point and purpose of the great hydrogen hoax. This is about corporate greed and rent seeking.
The rules of physics (not least thermodynamics) means that, whatever the power source, more energy will be expended than will ever be returned from the process of turning electricity into hydrogen gas, storing and distributing it. Which means it will not result in a net energy benefit.
Because the whole thing is a pipe dream, no one pushing the “let’s turn wind and solar power into hydrogen” line has bothered with the Energy Return On Investment or EROI – the ratio between the energy delivered by a particular fuel source to society and the energy invested in the capture and delivery of that energy.
The thermodynamic laws dictate that where Hydrogen energy is concerned the energy required to produce, store etc for the use of Hydrogen as an energy source will be greater than the energy made available. Go calculate for the absence of fossil fuels.
Reblogged this on uwerolandgross.