Technology
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Hydrogen always seemed like the best solution, but isn't it a nightmare to store safety? Accidents would basically turn into massive explosions
well, every form of energy storage can be a headache to handle (ie batteries..), but what can u do ? maybe use kevlar tanks (if thats a thing) ?.. there should be some workaround somehow
Safe Hydrogen storage is possible, but development is still behind where it needs to be, especially when compared to batteries.
The real issue with hydrogen though, is that we still suck at making it. Most of the cheap hydrogen on the market is from hydrocarbons, which isn't exactly a renewable resource. Electrolysis as we currently do it is inefficient, with energy lost during production. Meanwhile, batteries can take energy straight from whatever source made it, with very little lost in the process, so it's way more efficient.
If Hydrogen production makes a breakthrough in the future, and hydrogen storage improves a bit more, it could quickly become viable, but that's probably gonna be a while.
yea, 48kwh to produce 1kg of h2 with electrolysis ?! lol
but also we could rely on saudi arabia's infinite sunny desert to produce h2 in sustainable quantites.
if solar panels could become more efficient that also would be nice.
also because batteries would require african kids to mine for ur cathode (cobalt) and argentinian kids to mine for the anode (lithium). maybe solar panels are less impactful ?
Pretty much no country wants green energy to be a repeat of fossil fuels, where a few countries monopolize the energy production, so that'd never work. Nuclear could be an answer though, if countries stopped being paranoid about it and actually invested in new nuclear tech.
I wish, but it'll probably be a while, short of some kind of massive breakthrough, and definitely doesn't completely justify the losses in hydrogen electrolysis.
Yeah, we really need to get away from lithium-ion batteries, especially because of the limited geography of some of its components and the environmental impacts of mining them. There's been some promising battery tech being researched, but no clear signs for what's going to pan out or not yet. On the bright side, improved lithium extraction methods are in the pipeline, which could reduce the geological and environmental impacts of it enough to allow other countries to feel comfortable tapping their deposits, like the US.
electrolysis can be more efficient if the o2 produced where put into use too like sold as an oxidizer to rocket companies or something. o2 and h2 producing industries need to consolidate if they want to be sustainable and stay profitable.