Hydrogen binds readily, pure hydrogen is rarely found in nature. Industrial hydrogen is cracked out of hydrocarbons. Electrolysis of water for hydrogen production is best done at scale, like attached to a nuclear power plant. Electrolysis at the car level would not be as efficient as at scale, and storing hydrogen in a tank at the car - which in turn poses storage problems as it is very reactive and difficult to store, which may be why they propose cracking it out of the water..... There are "difficulties" with hydrogen as a fuel source.
But that also has some problems that need to be further studied and worked out.
Last edited by Gunnar on Tue Sep 30, 2025 9:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
No precept or claim is more suspect or more likely to be false than one that can only be supported by invoking the claim of Divine authority for it--no matter who or what claims such authority.
Right. Hydrogen is not an alternative to fossil fuel as a net energy source, but might be an alternative to batteries and petroleum as a way of distributing energy.
The distribution part is important even for fossil fuel, to the point where even if it required the full energy input of a gallon of diesel oil to extract and refine and deliver that gallon of diesel, we might still operate diesel vehicles. We could use wind or water or solar or nuclear power to produce the diesel fuel, and then it would be convenient to pack all that power into just a few gallons of oil, and send vehicles on their way for a few hundred miles before they had to refuel.
A gallon of liquified hydrogen could yield nearly 20 kWh of energy by combustion. Tesla currently gets up to about 100 kWh in its batteries. So if it were as simple as putting 10 gallons of liquid hydrogen into a typical 10-gallon car fuel tank, hydrogen vehicles could comfortably outrange electric ones. Electric cars currently all look weirdly thick, like guys with their pants hiked up to their armpits, because they cram so much battery under the floor, but 10 or 20 gallons of LH would fit in a normal fuel tank.
I don't know that I want to drive around with ten gallons of liquid hydrogen in my car. Sounds kind of scary. But maybe it's no worse than driving anything else.
Water vapor is also a greenhouse gas. So I'm not sure we can just switch from pumping the atmosphere full of CO2 to pumping it full of H2O. Unlike CO2, though, water vapor can condense out as rain, and it tends to do that before it reaches cold upper altitudes.
If I recall correctly, the percentage of water vapor in the atmosphere is a function of temperature. Excess water vapor injected into the atmosphere condenses back out. Water’s vapor is treated as a feedback and not a forcing.
That's how I understand it too!
No precept or claim is more suspect or more likely to be false than one that can only be supported by invoking the claim of Divine authority for it--no matter who or what claims such authority.
If I recall correctly, the percentage of water vapor in the atmosphere is a function of temperature. Excess water vapor injected into the atmosphere condenses back out. Water’s vapor is treated as a feedback and not a forcing.
Yup. You can pump all the CO2 you like into the atmosphere, and it will remain gaseous, and act as, well, a greenhouse gas. But at any given temperature there is a maximum percentage load of water vapour that the atmosphere can hold, and once you reach that, it will simply condense out as droplets. And the lower the temperature the less water vapour the air can hold before it saturates.
Also understood! I appreciate your depth of knowledge and ability to kindly correct any misconceptions I have!
No precept or claim is more suspect or more likely to be false than one that can only be supported by invoking the claim of Divine authority for it--no matter who or what claims such authority.