Hydrogen – a technical nightmare
Another fairytale less.
By Udo Pollmer.
This is part 3 of a five-part series.
Now that Germany has decided to end its nuclear power industry, it can save all its radioactive nuclear waste for future generations as no power plants are allowed to operate to dispose of it. Now a new energy source must be found. The hype that is currently circulating in the media is called hydrogen. The German government wants a gigantic industry to emerge; Germany must become "world market leader" "in an absolutely essential technology of the 21st century: hydrogen technology".1
Until now, hydrogen was mainly produced from methane. But how sensible is it to produce hydrogen from natural gas to fuel cars that can also run on methane? The electrolysis of methane produces significant amounts of CO2 that no one needs. Now the production of hydrogen from water is being celebrated as the long-awaited genius idea. After all, there is enough water. When energy is needed, hydrogen is reacted in a controlled manner with oxygen from the air in a fuel cell. This produces water and electricity. We use it to power zero-emission electric cars and heat insect farms.
But it takes a lot of energy to electrolytically split water into hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2). There is a big green devil in this small detail: splitting requires much more electricity than the fuel cell later generates. If you include the technical losses, you only get back a third of the energy used.2 From an ecological point of view, it is probably better to fuel the fireplace directly with banknotes.
Electrolysis is only reasonably effective when very high temperatures are available. Modern nuclear power plants, such as molten salt or dual-fluid reactors with their 700° to 1000° C hot steam, would provide optimal conditions for high-temperature electrolysis. Without these power stations, an energy transition to a hydrogen economy is doomed to failure in any case.3
A technical nightmare
https://www.climategate.nl/2024/07/waterstof-een-uitzichtsloos-alternatief/
