The world appears to be betting on hydrogen being the future of energy:

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇬🇧" title="Flagge des Vereinigten Königreiches" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge des Vereinigten Königreiches">U.K.: $664 million
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇪🇺" title="Flagge der Europäischen Union" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge der Europäischen Union">EU: $550 billion

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇨🇳" title="Flagge von China" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge von China">China, https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇯🇵" title="Flagge von Japan" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge von Japan">Japan and https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇰🇷" title="Flagge von Südkorea" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge von Südkorea">South Korea have also committed to huge amounts of spending on the gas https://trib.al/WqkEVDF ">https://trib.al/WqkEVDF&q...

The enthusiasm about hydrogen has a simple reason. Whether it’s burned to create heat or used in a fuel cell the only exhaust it emits is:

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💦" title="Schweißtropfen" aria-label="Emoji: Schweißtropfen">Clean water http://trib.al/WqkEVDF ">https://trib.al/WqkEVDF&q...

The worldwide race to dominate the various niches of a market is projected by some banks to be worth trillions of dollars by 2050.

But several hydrogen bubbles have been popped before:

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="📆" title="Abreißkalender" aria-label="Emoji: Abreißkalender">1980
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="📆" title="Abreißkalender" aria-label="Emoji: Abreißkalender">2000 http://trib.al/WqkEVDF ">https://trib.al/WqkEVDF&q...

There are daunting disadvantages:

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🌎" title="Amerika auf dem Globus" aria-label="Emoji: Amerika auf dem Globus">It doesn’t appear in its pure form on earth
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💰" title="Geldsack" aria-label="Emoji: Geldsack">Expensive
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🚛" title="Sattelschlepper" aria-label="Emoji: Sattelschlepper">Hard to transport and store
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="❄️" title="Schneeflocke" aria-label="Emoji: Schneeflocke">Must be compressed to 700 times atmospheric pressure or refrigerated at -253C
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💥" title="Symbol für eine Kollision" aria-label="Emoji: Symbol für eine Kollision">Likes to explode http://trib.al/WqkEVDF ">https://trib.al/WqkEVDF&q...

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="⚡️" title="Hochspannungszeichen" aria-label="Emoji: Hochspannungszeichen">To get hydrogen, an electric current is run through water to split the oxygen and hydrogen atoms apart.

That takes energy, which really ought to be green http://trib.al/WqkEVDF ">https://trib.al/WqkEVDF&q...

One application currently gets a lot of hype: hydrogen-powered vehicles.

But on almost every count, vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells lose against their “clean energy” rivals — electric cars running on batteries http://trib.al/WqkEVDF ">https://trib.al/WqkEVDF&q...

For a start, hydrogen cars are only half as efficient:

If an electric car converts 86% of the energy originally harnessed by a wind turbine into moving the vehicle forward, the hydrogen car has access to only about 45% http://trib.al/WqkEVDF ">https://trib.al/WqkEVDF&q...

Compared to an electric car, a car with a hydrogen fuel cell:

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="⚙️" title="Zahnrad" aria-label="Emoji: Zahnrad">Has more moving parts
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💸" title="Geld mit Flügeln" aria-label="Emoji: Geld mit Flügeln">More expensive to maintain
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔌" title="Elektrostecker" aria-label="Emoji: Elektrostecker">Can’t be “reloaded” at home

That’s bad news for Toyota, Hyundai and Honda, who have placed the biggest bets on hydrogen in transportation http://trib.al/WqkEVDF ">https://trib.al/WqkEVDF&q...

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🚆" title="Zug" aria-label="Emoji: Zug">Hydrogen also doesn’t make sense for trains: It eliminates the need to electrify the track, but locks in a more complex, less efficient solution.

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✈️" title="Flugzeug" aria-label="Emoji: Flugzeug">It’s only long-haul flights or https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🚢" title="Schiff" aria-label="Emoji: Schiff"> oceanic shipping where hydrogen starts to make sense http://trib.al/WqkEVDF ">https://trib.al/WqkEVDF&q...

The solution to climate change is to power everything with electricity from renewable sources.

But that’s the problem: We simply can’t run everything on electricity. And we won’t ever have enough sun and wind to keep the lights on all the time, everywhere http://trib.al/WqkEVDF ">https://trib.al/WqkEVDF&q...

Here’s where hydrogen becomes useful.

It could be the fuel that picks up the slack whenever the clean power grids of the future can’t keep up http://trib.al/WqkEVDF ">https://trib.al/WqkEVDF&q...

It could look something like this:

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="↪️" title="Nach rechts zeigender Pfeil mit Haken" aria-label="Emoji: Nach rechts zeigender Pfeil mit Haken">Electrolyze hydrogen when we have excess sun or wind
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="↪️" title="Nach rechts zeigender Pfeil mit Haken" aria-label="Emoji: Nach rechts zeigender Pfeil mit Haken">Store it underground near our power grids, where it can be used during lulls in direct electricity generation

Hydrogen then makes decarbonization possible http://trib.al/WqkEVDF ">https://trib.al/WqkEVDF&q...