The fact that federal agencies ever allocated money to fuel cell research is pretty damning evidence that even the most elite scientists in US government don’t know how to fund science.
Fuel cells aren’t a case where maybe researchers just needed more funding… more time… and then they would go from being super inefficient to super valuable.
Even if humanity somehow had an abundant source of hydrogen, it would always be more environmentally and economically beneficial to burn whatever hydrogen we had in a central location and distribute that power as electricity. That’s because even the most efficient fuel cell allowed by physics would still be less efficient than using off-the-shelf lithium ion batteries with grid power of any kind. This was just as true 10 years ago, back when the US goverment started pouring money into this tech.
This is actually a perfect case of where exploratory engineering and a simple dominance argument can allow you to know in advance that an entire field of research has no economic value.
See on phys.org
5 Responses to “Why a hydrogen economy doesn’t make sense”
December 29
Paul CrowleyI thought fuel cells were seen as batteries, not power sources?
December 29
Marius van VoordenHmm, with solar power, you don’t need the AC-DC conversion, since you’re starting out with DC. That might shave off a bit, although not really enough.
December 29
James D MillerSure they do, if you assume their goal is to please politicians and so get more money for themselves.
December 29
Jonathan LeeHydrogen is a terrible way to store chemical potential; methanol / dimethylether are easier to store and use in existing capital. The hidden problem on the all electric side is the supply of lithium for batteries.
December 30
TaurusShit like this can be deeply inspiring (obviate the existing paradigm of institutional mindlessness by training your vocal chords so that you’re loud enough to be heard shouting “The emperor has no clothes!”)
Thanks, Louie.