this post was submitted on 13 Mar 2025
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Why run ammonia when you can just run liquid hydrogen? Why run liquid hydrogen when you can just run a nuclear reactor?
Hydrogen leaks like crazy
It does not leak like crazy. I know because I have experience engineering and operating high pressure electrolysis, storage, and fueling systems for hydrogen. Even when it does leak, what's nice about hydrogen is that it's not toxic to humans or pollutive to the environment, unlike ammonia or fossil fuels. Hydrogen leaks are easily mitigated with proven detection and ventilation techniques.
@CrimeDad @thedeadwalking4242 It leaks like crazy and it is a GHG 11x worse than CO2.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment/_data/file/1067144/atmospheric-implications-of-increased-hydrogen-use.pdf
That is an interesting article, but the authors are clear that they don't know what to expect for hydrogen leakage in a developed hydrogen economy. Sure, hydrogen might be a greenhouse gas, but you can't really compare it to carbon dioxide because that's a waste product that we actively dispose of to the atmosphere. You can't really compare it to methane either because it's naturally abundant and the LEL is much higher. Relatively leaky valves and fittings are unfortunately acceptable in natural gas service. In other words, hydrogen leakage is barely tolerable, so we have no choice but to employ technology and techniques to prevent it.
The GHG "problem" of H2 is that it competes with methane for breakdown of methane in atmosphere. If we use/leak less methane, then problem solved.