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Comment by 7speter | Hacker News Reader

Reading the article this seems really amazing. Hydrogen technology that seems to be a drop in for solid state batteries without all the issues of using what seems to be water? This seems like a destiny changing game changer. Whats the dream bubble popper with this one? It even seems like volkswagen solved the issue of using rare metals.

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Storing the hydrogen. You need an extremely well insulated high pressure tank, that is either prohibitively heavy, expensive, large or all of the above.

Also, the consequences of that tank puncturing are a lot worse than a regular gasoline tank.

OR to change that hydrogen into something that stores and transports easier... Ammonia is one way, I have also read that the germans have developed something called powerpaste that essentially makes it inert for safe and simple transport.

These are just the beginning. I am bullish on Hydrogen. I suspect it going to be very big in the future. It may not be a silver bullet (or THE solution) but its definitely going to be a big player.

Disolving hydrogen in ammonia has been discussed, in Australian media anyway, as a way that Australia could 'export it's sunlight' to the world.

I also believe it's best to have at least a couple of option branches as there are a very wide number of use-cases, to all of which a single option is unlikely able to cater.

> the consequences of that tank puncturing are a lot worse than a regular gasoline tank

Are they? Hydrogen should float up, up, and away. Just don’t store it indoors.

The very, very large problem comes when it ignites.

Hydrogen production is still very costly and energy inefficient. If we had excess renewable energy, this may not be a problem, but today it's an issue, especially if you're producing hydrogen using non-renewable energy sources.

assuming we can make the cost something more affordable: Regions of the world DO have excess amounts of renewable energy, they have no way to move that energy to locations that dont have excess renewable energy. thats why turning it into hydrogen might be a part of the solution.

on top of that, there are lots locations around the world that are underdeveloped but do have the potential for turning their renewable resources into an export. That would be an almost silver bullet. to uplift developing nations by selling developed nations green energy.

If we can get the conversion cost effective, and the transport and storage reliable and cost effective then we can change the world for in a bigger way than the internet has.

If HFC vehicles ever become mainstream, hydrogen is going to have to be produced on-site at filling stations. Hydrogen is extremely difficult and dangerous to transport. If you try to use pipes, the hydrogen will be able to leak out of even the smallest of cracks, and can even diffuse through metals. It's extremely difficult to compress and becomes a serious explosion hazard.

I'm somewhat optimistic that HFC will play a role in the future of transportation, but there are still a lot of issues that need to be ironed out.

Call me naive but if such a viable hydrogen engine such as the one being described in the article is here, wouldnt it be just as easy (or easier) shift focus to building out more renewable energy infrastructure than to try and mine the earth for the lithium required to power everybody’s car?

If anything, this hydrogen technology should be the excuse we need to immediately focus on renewable power buildout.

The question is who will pay and will those entities be willing to accept the risk?

Whose gonna pay when all the people living in miami are displaced by it being under water and New York City becomes New Miami?

And whose gonna pay when marine life collapses and shellfish cant make shells because the all of the oceans’ ph is off? Hell there might not even be a need for money because there might not be anyone left!

Article is currently erroring out so I can't see what it says, but hydrogen isn't super easy to store or transport. It's also a whole other infrastructure system to have to set up, where the already-popular electric cars are already struggling.

https://smartgrid.ieee.org/bulletins/february-2021/green-hyd...

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