Limitless ‘white’ hydrogen under our feet may soon shatter all energy assumptions::undefined

  • RvTV95XBeo@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    26
    ·
    1 year ago

    I don’t know that I entirely agree - yes white hydrogen is non-renewable and yes there are environmental concerns over harvesting it, but I don’t see as much of a risk in demand, given that anyone with a solar panel and some water can produce their own hydrogen.

    My fear is that white hydrogen will be used as an excuse for continuing to harvest carbon-based fossil fuels - “we’re trying to extract hydrogen in this field but we’ve just gotta extract these pesky hydrocarbons in the process”. There would need to be a metric fuckton of regulations in place to get me even close to on board with the process, and odds are these regulations would make it much less “cost competitive” than promised.

    • wishthane@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      17
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      It kind of screams co-opting by the fossil fuel industry, doesn’t it. Just like all of the efforts to make Alberta tar sands oil sound environmentally friendly, by pointing to the strong regulatory environment. Rather than focus on what will actually improve things the most, they want something that keeps them in business

    • tiny_electron@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      Anyone can produce green hydrogen Indeed, but it will be much more expensive and therefore states will probably choose the cheapest option. I really fear it would just be “oil 2” with only a few a the issues of oil resolved. I agree it needs a lot of régulation to avoid doing the same errors all over again

      • RvTV95XBeo@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Yeah, agreed. The biggest difference though is that green hydrogen provides a price ceiling that we don’t really have with oil currently

    • OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      anyone with a solar panel and some water can produce their own hydrogen.

      But we can’t, at least not in usable quantities. Electrolysis is extremely slow.