Putting Platinum and other depleting precious metals aside (eg: copper, silver ), another concern for Hydrogen economy is the EROEI ( Energy return on investment ).
The Oil Drum: Europe | Should EROEI be the most important criterion our society uses to decide how it meets its energy needs?
We have achieved a very high EROEI with crude oil under modern technology ( oil rig in super oil field at Saudi sucking million barrels of oil per day ). This has allowed the world economy to grow at a rate not seen before the oil industrial age. Output energy > > > Input energy = WEALTH
I wonder what is the EROEI of hydrogen production ?
If it takes 100 BTU of energy ( from coal, solar, wind, nuke, oil, high energy catalysts and etc ) to produce 60 BTU worth of hydrogen based energy. Do you think it's more practical to just have a
plug in electric car (powered by battery, solar-battery & etc ) ? Would it be better to just use the original 100BTU electrical energy to power the vehicle directly instead of using it to create hydrogen ( energy carrier by itself ) with less output of BTU ?
Hydrogen economy: energy and economic black hole | Energy Bulletin Quote:
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The laws of physics mean the hydrogen economy will always be an energy sink. Hydrogen’s properties require you to spend more energy to do the following than you get out of it later: overcome waters’ hydrogen-oxygen bond, to move heavy cars, to prevent leaks and brittle metals, to transport hydrogen to the destination. It doesn’t matter if all of the problems are solved, or how much money is spent. You will use more energy to create, store, and transport hydrogen than you will ever get out of it.
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