3 ms·

The weight factor also makes it easier to transport. In off-grid use-cases, it could make a lot of sense to get hydrogen delivered instead of setting up solar/w

• samatman 6y ago
  Not really. Again, it's kind of stuck in the middle: energy density by volume sucks compared to hydrocarbons, and if it isn't cryogenic, it really sucks, and cryo is expensive. Transporting fuel by truck is volume limited, not weight limited. If we're comparing to batteries, then... ok, but you kinda only have to move the batteries once, and then you can either recharge on site with solar or connect to grid. With hydrogen, you have to keep bringing it, and you may as well have hydrocarbons at that point. The lack of carbon emissions on-site is what makes it tempting, but it's just easier to work around this problem in various ways than it is to pay the hydrogen penalty on an ongoing basis. To a first approximation, all commercial hydrogen is cracked off of methane anyway, and electrolysis is a pretty inefficient way to use renewable electricity, so even that just displaces emissions to fossil fuel plants unless none of those exist anymore.