'A complete failure' Japan's 'fantasy' hydrogen strategy does nothing

Re:'A complete failure' Japan's 'fantasy' hydrogen strategy ... by eldaisfish on Monday January 23, 2023 @10:09AM (#34489661)

Isn't the whole point of cheap and plentiful renewable energy that inefficiencies in processes like this are irrelevant?

Why would long-term storage matter if wind and solar can produce so much energy that we cannot feasibly consume it all? What other long-term energy storage plans are there right now?

I would not write off fuel stations just yet. There may well be a future where some renewable fuel powers vehicles.

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Re:'A complete failure' Japan's 'fantasy' hydrogen strategy ... by WorldMaker on Monday January 23, 2023 @03:20PM (#34494410)

Cost would be an obvious factor. An inefficient electricity derivative fuel is always going to be more expensive than charging a battery directly from all that cheap/plentiful renewable electricity eliminating the "middle fuel". Especially when vehicle usage curves have a beautiful inverse to electricity demand curves and vehicles are generally parked for hours when electricity rates are at their very cheapest.

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Re:'A complete failure' Japan's 'fantasy' hydrogen strategy ... by schiffern on Monday January 23, 2023 @06:51PM (#34496860)

>Isn't the whole point of cheap and plentiful renewable energy that inefficiencies in processes like this are irrelevant?

No.

You're thinking of "too cheap to meter," which never came to pass, and (as it turns out) was just a marketing line.

>What other long-term energy storage plans are there right now?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34429623

There was a great article a few days ago about "factories as batteries" (pointing out that aluminum smelting is uneconomic but hydrogen works) but sadly I can't find it.

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