cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/31642688
161grams = 5kwh+ of heat energy or close to 3kwh of electric only energy in a fuel cell.
For drones, ebikes, powerstations, this would be higher electric weight density than batteries. And solves ebike/powerstation charging on the go problem.
Quite honestly, I don’t see how we will get there with green hydrogen, at least in the next decade. Portable hydrogen tanks are a good thing, but they won’t solve all that many real-life issues.
Big inroads for H2 perhaps starting in 5 years. Batteries are enough to progress until then. Solar deployments will need an H2 outlet to keep using up solar capacity. Very likely to be yet another China driven tech boom.
portable H2 is gateway to urban distributed H2. Appliances and refills either from home or from nearby businesses. Powerstations/backup/UPS power is a pretty universal application. Everything depends on green H2 retail prices though.
Green electricity is both cheaper and much more available. Green H2 is inherently at a price disadvantage compared to green electricity. Unless absolutely unavoidable (as with steel or fertilizer production), why would you use it for anything?
Maybe I am looking at this from too much of a European perspective, i.e. on average, the grid is stronger here than e.g. in the US – but I don’t see going off-grid as a major factor either. If you can, you generally avoid going off-grid intentionally, because it’s just extremely expensive. Even if you’re planning for natural disasters, I see going with grid-connected, off-grid-capable solar as a much better idea, at least for most of the year.