For those who think Hydrogen is the way forwards with Cars.

[otherclive]

Sasol converted coal into fuel so not sure if the process could be changed to gas?

Coal to fuel was used in Germany during WW2 and invented in the 1920s. But coal to gas pre dated that by a long while, being made in the late 1700s. . Towns and cities had their local gas works serving specific areas where coal was used to produce Town Gas. Unlike natural gas Town Gas was toxic due to its carbon monoxide content. Storage would be in a gasometer that supplied the distribution pressure.

 

[Ern]

Coal to fuel was used in Germany during WW2 and invented in the 1920s. But coal to gas pre dated that by a long while, being made in the late 1700s. . Towns and cities had their local gas works serving specific areas where coal was used to produce Town Gas. Unlike natural gas Town Gas was toxic due to its carbon monoxide content. Storage would be in a gasometer that supplied the distribution pressure.

We used to go to Birmingham on the bus when I was a kid, and passed Saltley Gas Works. It was very near the centre of the city. Oh the stink of that place was awful. The fumes were terrible and when there was fog you could feel the grit on your lips. The tree huggers of today don't know what pollution is.

 

[Dustydog]

As an aside . It was declared yesterday in Scotland there is a shortage of beer caused by the very low supply of Carbon Dioxide🤪🤪

 

[otherclive]

As an aside . It was declared yesterday in Scotland there is a shortage of beer caused by the very low supply of Carbon Dioxide🤪🤪

Trouble is if it’s put in bottles, you drink it then it’s released quite promptly back in the atmosphere. So drink lots more.

 

[Dustydog]

And I thought bottling the Genie was the secret😉😉

 

[Tobes]

Hmmm. It's not a great article. It waits until the near the end to point out that H2 is not a direct source fuel like electricity or natural gas, but needs to be "made" using either electricity and gas or electricity on its own. In the gas + electricity model, you also have to include carbon capture technology, which requires - you guessed it - more electricity. H2 as a fuel is all about either convenience, or supporting applications which cant be made practical using electricity alone (which is another way of saying convenience).

The point here is that clean H2 is entirely dependant on clean electricity. We need continued significant investment in reducing our consumption of energy (better efficiency) and continued investment in those green electricity sources (tidal, wind, wave, hydro, solar, geothermal) coupled with efficient storage for peak load time shifting, in order to allow for the necessary efficiency losses incurred by H2 usage for convenience to be available.