Nice to see more discussion of Jevons’ Paradox. I’m not convinced that the criticism of green hydrogen is so valid. The ERoEI is bad, no doubt, but hydrogen created through electrolysis has the benefit of being dense and portable. For those tasks where running a vehicle is the logical solution, converting the output of large-scale solar infrastructure to hydrogen might make sense. Will it affordably replace the current American lifestyle of burning 2 litres of petroleum to buy 1 litre of milk? Certainly not, but it has a place in the future energy mix.
If hydrogen has a place in the future energy mix isn’t clear yet I believe, because it’s not clear how far the costs can sink and where battery technology will be when it will be ready.
Nice to see more discussion of Jevons’ Paradox. I’m not convinced that the criticism of green hydrogen is so valid. The ERoEI is bad, no doubt, but hydrogen created through electrolysis has the benefit of being dense and portable. For those tasks where running a vehicle is the logical solution, converting the output of large-scale solar infrastructure to hydrogen might make sense. Will it affordably replace the current American lifestyle of burning 2 litres of petroleum to buy 1 litre of milk? Certainly not, but it has a place in the future energy mix.
If hydrogen has a place in the future energy mix isn’t clear yet I believe, because it’s not clear how far the costs can sink and where battery technology will be when it will be ready.