Automated Hydrogen Generation Plants

I was super excited to see that hydrogen fuel cell cars were finally here. Cars with zero emissions, just water. And a fuel that can be produced using water and energy. And then I did some research and humanity disappointed me again. Turns out that cracking methane from gas and fracking is cheaper than producing it by splitting apart water… with the byproduct being carbon-dioxide. :face-palm:

So, what we need to do is make it so that there is a financial incentive to not use methane. i.e. produce hydrogen cheaper than it can be done using methane cracking. What we need is water and energy. Plenty of that in the sea!

Offshore wind turbines produce electricity which desalinates and splits water, compresses hydrogen into tanks, which autonomous ships ferry to ports. Of course the ships run on hydrogen, so actual running costs are extremely low, they refuel by simply swapping their running tank out for a full one.

The capability to produce hydrogen from salt water does not require huge plant costs, so this solution is scalable in a way that oil processing is not. We would be hydrogen magnates 🙂

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One Response to Automated Hydrogen Generation Plants

  1. gemmell says:

    Two additional points:
    Ammonia is a better transport of hydrogen than hydrogen itself!

    Economically the trick with this is getting the Marginal Cost of new units towards zero, and of course the outputs higher than the inputs.

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