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As a hydrogen engine it is also carbon neutral. That makes it more environment friendly than both the existing jet engines and Musk's methane rocket hopper.
by varjag 8y ago
As a hydrogen engine it is also carbon neutral. That makes it more environment friendly than both the existing jet engines and Musk's methane rocket hopper.
- xbmcuser 8y agoYeah though hydrogen is produced by burning fossil fuels currently. I hope the tech to get hydrogen from the air and water using solar keeps improving and getting cheaper to the point that it becomes the main source of hydrogen. As hydrogen used as a fuel source and as a way to store renewable energy has a huge potential to bring down the world's carbon production.
- Symmetry 8y agoI'm skeptical about hydrogen's use as a form of energy storage but a carbon neutral source of hydrogen for chemical processes, especially the generation of fertilizer, would be a huge deal.
- xbmcuser 8y agoI was talking about this tech. You get solar electricity as well as hydrogen that you can later burn to get electricity at night when no sun. https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/03/20190308-kul.html https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/03/20190308-kul.html
- jacobush 8y agoThat comment has very little substance. Where do you get the hydrogen? Where do you get the jet fuel? The answer determines if it's environment friendly.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- igravious 8y agoYes. So-called `green tech' and its boosters have greenwashed a bunch of tech which is far from actually green and clean when you look at the details. I'm unsure whether these people are ignorant or mendacious. Charitably I'm going with the first option with a touch of the ol' ideological blinkers thrown in for good measure. Examples: (a – transport) electric vehicles, hydrogen-powered vehicles – In the first case, how are batteries made? where do the elements come from, what are the environmental costs? what are the human costs? what are the industrial processes? In the second case, to echo your question, great but where does the the hydrogen come from? And what about disposal and recycling? (b – energy production) wind turbines, solar pv panels – Same set of questions: how are they made? What are the social and environmental costs? What's their lifetime? How are they disposed of or recycled? This is a shame because actually greener tech (like nuclear in the case of energy production, and cycling and mass public transport in the case of transport) is overlooked or sidelined to the detriment of the whole planet. Unsurprisingly this childish ignorance will end up hurting us all. This stuff needs to be taught in schools.
- varjag 8y agoYou understand that you can google either of those and get thorough, comprehensive breakdowns of environmental costs? Because that's exactly the kind of questions that being asked by people like you for last couple decades. Not that they ever read the answers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_aspects_of_the_electric_car#Environmental_impact_of_manufacturing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_aspects_of_the_e...
- igravious 8y agoYou understand that i know what the answers are. I'm providing a range of questions for those starry-eyed among us who forget the everything has externalities. Way to jump to conclusions about who I am, what I know do or do not know, and what I may or may not believe in.
- varjag 8y agoThat's rich, as your post was all about jumping to conclusions, literally from the first paragraph.
- Someone 8y ago“Doesn’t emit CO2 when in operation” and “carbon neutral” are two completely different things. If Musk produces his methane using electricity from the solar cells he sells, and this thing flies on hydrogen made by burning oil to drive a generator that uses hydrolysis to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, Musk’s rocket hopper can well be closer to carbon neutral. Also, “environment friendly“ is yet something different. Using bare steel and reusing rockets, as Musk does, will help there, but this design also seems to be reusable.
- LaGrange 8y ago> Also, “environment friendly“ is yet something different. Using bare steel and reusing rockets, as Musk does, will help there, but this design also seems to be reusable. ...also, burning pretty much anything at high temperatures in our atmosphere will result in interesting nitrogen compounds.
- adrianN 8y agoMethane can be produced quite easily in a carbon neutral way, for example by collecting it from manure.
- syntaxing 8y agoUnfortunately most of the world's hydrogen is made from mixing fossil fuels with super heated steam.
- dotancohen 8y agoDepends on from where the hydrogen and the methane are sourced. Both can be sourced from atmospheric carbon. I'm sure that the _emissions_ of the H2 engine are cleaner, though.
- Symmetry 8y agoReducing carbon emissions is a good thing but the emissions from a typical launch are on the same order of magnitude as flying a jumbo jet across the Pacific and rocket flights are much less frequent than that. The biggest environmental concern is the damage to the ozone layer that solid boosters cause.