Hydrogen was once thought to be the answer to future energy needs. But the numbers are in and it is not looking good for hydrogen as a fuel. Investors are catching on to the problems of hydrogen, and projects to produce H₂ with green energy are being cancelled. Look at this chart from Europe:
One-fifth of the proposed projects have been suspended or cancelled. Europe is not alone. Air Products in Texas pulled out of a joint venture, $4.5 billon hydrogen project citing the lack of an anchor customer. Origin Energy of Australia cancelled its participation in the NSW Hunter Valley hydrogen hub, Hydrogen company stock prices have dropped 30-50% over the past year.
The problems are mostly physical. Since H₂ is such a small gas molecule, it penetrates most substances used to contain it, which leads to embrittlement. It is highly explosive when mixed with air. Fuel cells using hydrogen as fuel require expensive rare metals (Iridium and Platinum) to catalyze the energy producing reactions. The bottom line is that producing energy from making hydrogen is inefficient--around 40% or less. So-called "blue hydrogen" produced from cracking methane is even less efficient, and produces CO₂ as a waste product. Oil & gas companies do not really care about that inconvenient fact. Price-Waterhouse in its study concluded that expectations for hydrogen do not meet economic reality. The International Energy Agency reached a similar conclusion this summer. EU planned to have installed 120 GW of hydrogen energy by 2030, currently there is 0.2 GW operational. Whether the hydrogen bubble was created by lobbyists or simply wishful thinking is open to debate. This is what happens when reality catches up to hype. AI anyone?