• @Luvs2Spuj
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    98 hours ago

    Every post about hydrogen gets a negative reaction, like someone has proposed using coal to power cars.

    There are different suitable applications for different types of energy, it’s not a situation where you have to pick one solution and that’s it. I notice the same happens to some degree with posts about nuclear power.

    Hydrogen has potential in things like shipping, aviation, trains and industry. Even if the exact concept in the article doesn’t work, the lessons learned might advance technology in other projects.

    • @[email protected]
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      167 hours ago

      The negative reaction come from the fact that most hydrogen is produced by an energy intensive process that uses steam to crack petroleum products, and oil companies like BP have invested millions in greenwashing it to sound good.

      • @Luvs2Spuj
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        16 hours ago

        I understand there is green hydrogen and blue hydrogen and considered adding a paragraph on that in my comment, but didn’t.

        I know most hydrogen isn’t green, but there isn’t a reason it couldn’t be some day.

        It makes some sense to me to use the currently more economically viable blue hydrogen in developing technology, but I do agree it is far from perfect.

        Considering all this, I still think the negativity to hydrogen progress isn’t proportional.

        • @manualoverride
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          5 hours ago

          This is why the negativity is not proportional enough… why are the oil companies pushing for this? It’s not so the wind and solar farms can split water in the future and cut them out of the equation, it’s to delay BEV adoption and try to create a future where they are needed to supplement the horrible efficiencies of hydrogen production, and the need to transport it all over the world.

          None of these companies are trying to be altruistic, they are actively destroying the environment and buying influence, to continue making money by doing it.

          Batteries are more efficient, more energy dense, cheaper, last for decades and can be 97+% recycled after those decades of service to produce batteries that are even more efficient.

          Hydrogen has lost the battle for transport power.

          I will cheer any Hydrogen progress that is not attempting to be applied to something that already has a greener alternative.

    • @manualoverride
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      127 hours ago

      I think it’s the knowledge that hydrogen tech is being pushed so hard by the oil lobbies because it’s currently most cheaply made by refining it out of oil using massive amounts of electricity which they can generate by burning more oil.

      The astroturfing of hydrogen as a green fuel is disgusting, and straight out of the “Natural gas” playbook that got it piped to virtually every home in the western world over the last 200 years.

      • @Luvs2Spuj
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        36 hours ago

        I replied to the person above you who made essentially the same comment.

        I understand that part and somewhat agree, but still think progress is cool. Especially in a futurology post.