Seems as though almost everything depends on fossil fuels. But maybe a breakthrough using windmills to make hydrogen is on the horizon.
Posted on 06/02/2022 7:52:32 PM PDT by American Number 181269513
One of the myriad issues with hydrogen as a clean energy source is infrastructure, as it's very expensive to move around and store an extremely explosive gas. Toyota and its subsidiary Woven Planet believe they may have a solution with a new portable hydrogen cartridge prototype. The idea is that they can be filled up at a dedicated facility, transported where needed, then returned when you receive your next shipment.
The cartridges would be relatively small at 16 inches long, 7 inches in diameter and about 11 pounds in weight. Toyota calls them "portable, affordable, and convenient energy that makes it possible to bring hydrogen to where people live, work, and play without the use of pipes.. [and] swappable for easy replacement and quick charging."
They could be useful for "mobility [i.e. hydrogen cars], household applications, and many future possibilities we have yet to imagine," Toyota said. It didn't mention any specific uses, but it said that "one hydrogen cartridge is assumed to generate enough electricity to operate a typical household microwave for approximately 3-4 hours."
In its press release, Toyota acknowledges that most hydrogen is made from fossil fuels and so not exactly green. But it thinks that it'll be generated with low carbon emissions in the future, and that the cartridges could help with some of the infrastructure issues.
Toyota plans to test that theory by conducting proof of concept trials in various places, including its "human-centered smart city of the future," Woven City in Susono City, Zhizuoka Prefecture in Japan. The company is also "working to build a comprehensive hydrogen-based supply chain aimed at expediting and simplifying production, transport, and daily usage," it said.
Hydrogen is an impractical fuel for automobiles, mainly due to the expense and lack of places to refuel. It's more viable for things like trains and semi trucks, where electrification can be more of a challenge. It also holds promise for air transportation, as batteries are too heavy to be practical in that situation. However, Toyota seems to be pitching the cartridges for personal and home use, but it's not yet clear what you'd use them for.
Seems as though almost everything depends on fossil fuels. But maybe a breakthrough using windmills to make hydrogen is on the horizon.
If this catches on, the hydrogen market will really explode.
Wow. Toyota just invented the gas cylinder.
If the hydrogen economy took off, it would be easy to create the hydrogen in the middle of the desert by pumping sea water from the coast to Death Valley and process it there.
Yes like a true freeper I did not read the entire article.
If you could crack it off from the hydrocarbon chains and then sequester the carbon with a net positive energy result it could interesting.
What could go wrong?</sarc>😆
Just like all their “solutions”.
All fuel, to make it usuable, has high costs.
That, imo, is just the cost of having a society.
I see what you did there.
Good one.
“Toyota seems to be pitching the cartridges for personal and home use, but it’s not yet clear what you’d use them for.”
To store energy in the form of hydrogen extracted from water, using your backyard solar farm or your basement thorium reactor. Duh.
Sure but with oil, coal, and natural gas nature did the majority of the work of converting material into a usable fuel source so there is a net gain when refining such fuels. Creating hydrogen from fossil fuels is like putting a windmill on your car to charge your batteries when you drive, the increase in drag negates any positive gain.
Nicest looking bomb I’ve ever seen.
There's a physics problem to solve when it comes to hydrogen, it's a very efficient fuel to use... but it costs more energy to make than you get out of it, and it's a challenge to store and transport safely. If Toyota has a handle on the last bit, it's down to figuring out how to address where the hydrogen comes from.
Solar,hydro,and wind can sort of address the hydrogen generation issues up to a point, you're not paying for the environmental energy, just the equipment, and with the inconsistent nature of "green" energy sources, filling up batteries/cartridges may be a good use for them. The problem then is one of scale. You're going to need a whole lot of generating capacity (and sunk costs for equipment and infrastructure) for a relatively meager quantity of charged hydrogen cartridges, and to double that capacity takes more than double the additional investment.
Metal hydride storage
I still have some mil surplus lithium hydride cylinders that downed pilots used to make hydrogen to inflate balloons that were used as antenna supports for Gibson Girl emergency transmitters. Just drop them in water to run the process.
So, what’s the yield of one of those puppies when it cooks off?
ISWYDT
CC
This means that it can pass through most anything (leakage).
A changeable cartridge means seals/o-rings being used/abused…a leak looking for a ignition source.
Once they have a working prototype that does work, they make it bigger for vehicle use.
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