this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2026
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Hydrogen
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Okay here's a self contained unit with 1KWh of batteries that can accept 500W of the "abandoned solar panels" input for use or charging the batteries.
Here's an induction hotplate that can use the unit above's electricity for cooking food at full blast for just under an hour on just stored electricity.
With this solution the only input is sunlight. There are no consumables. This unit is rated for 4000 cycles and is designed for a 10 year lifespan.
So your budget to beat a regular PV solution is $507 USD.
With that you need to provide a hydrogen solution that can:
I'm interested to see what hydrogen solutions exist to do this for less money.
You're ignoring the need for an invertor and other electronics.
A super scaled down version of a hydrogen electrolyzer plus storage system is not nearly as big as you think. Not impossible that it would fit in a backpack, and cost similar to what you're proposing.
I'm not. The Ecoflow is an inverter and battery all in one package. All the electronics are in that one box. There are solar panel inputs on the side to take the solar DC power, store it, and also an inverter to output the DC to AC for use with appliances.
Your assertion was that the hydrogen solution would be cheaper. I don't really care about the size right now. I've looked in the past and haven't seen anything close for the performance or low cost. Please list a product(s) for sale showing this competitive price for equal performance.
Well then I retract my previous statement. However, your product is likely not something you would use in a home solar setup. This is more of a camper/RV power system. A real system would be significantly larger and more robust. Adjust costs accordingly.
Looking around, it doesn't seem like there is an equivalent product using hydrogen at the same price. The closest would be a self-contained hydrogen stove system, for around $1,100: https://interestingengineering.com/energy/plug-and-play-hydrogen-stove
I suppose that's "close for the performance," depending on your perspective.
Regardless, hydrogen systems are rapidly coming down in price. For instance, PEM electrolyzers are available for a few tens of dollars these days:
So I suspect we will see a hydrogen system for a similar price to what you are showing.
First, I very much appreciate your honesty. I also appreciate that you showed the information for the parts to compete with my proposed electrical solution.
I agree with you on the scale of the electrical solution I showed. It is a very small setup, and I used that specifically because it was a simple all-in-one turnkey solution. Getting into a system large enough for a home gets more complicated because we have to raise questions about where that home is to design a solution. Different countries have different regulations as far was what equipment is used to comply with local codes and ordinances. The solar panels on my house in the USA and the batteries in my basement along with the support devices and wiring would be different in a country like Australia. The costs would be significantly lower too for an equally performing system in Australia.
I would love for home Hydrogen systems to offer a superior performance or pricepoint to current purely electrical ones, however I see that to be difficult simply with the require conversion losses for consumption. One angle Hydrogen could succeed is in energy storage assuming the technology is developed to do so where the Hydrogen would be used for combustion for home heating. However at this point I don't know of any technology that would be even close to more efficient, better performing, or less expensive than many other non-Hydrogen solutions on the market right now.
I keep watching the space though and hoping Hydrogen can be a viable energy. I'm just not seeing it yet.
Just so we're clear, we may eventually see something similar to your cheap all-in-one solution. We simply aren't there yet technology-wise.
The main point is that hydrogen is totally feasible as a home energy storage system. It will make sense for some people or some situations, but not everyone or every situation.
Feasible in the sense that it would function and serve the purpose, I would agree. Feasible in the sense that Hydrogen is the best choice for the application is where I have my doubts for the foreseeable future.
I'm interested in when we arrive at a situation where its the best solution among all technology offerings. It will take some technological leap before I think that will happen though.
At some point, hydrogen energy storage systems will have a similar efficiency to a conventional battery. It is sorta possible now, if you utilize CHP (combined heat and power).