this post was submitted on 23 May 2026
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Hydrogen

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A community about hydrogen and its use as a way to fight climate change.

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Since the dawn of the automobile, gasoline has been the most popular fuel type by far. The process of obtaining gasoline for fuel use is an involved process that many folks claim hurts the environment. After all, it needs to be drilled out of the ground, sent somewhere via a gigantic pipeline or massive barge, refined in a lengthy and expensive process, and then shipped back out to wherever it's destined in its finished state.

Whether or not you agree with the environmental impact of gasoline and diesel, one true fact of fossil fuels is that, someday, we'll simply run out. What do we do then if we haven't transitioned to something else? That's where hydrogen comes into play. It's the most abundant element in the universe, and when burned for fuel, the only tailpipe emission is water vapor. Why hasn't the entire world been scrambling to perfect the use of hydrogen power if all it emits is literal water? Well, Toyota has tried, but despite its massive influence, hydrogen combustion simply hasn't caught on.

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[โ€“] scott_anon_21@lemmy.ca 3 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (1 children)

Solar power off my roof splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen and then more power to compress and cool the hydrogen just so I can pump the hydrogen through a fuel cell to produce electricity to drive electric motors probably has energy losses at each step reducing efficiency. Doing this at scale and adding tanker trucks consuming hydrogen to deliver hydrogen to fueling stations exacerbates the problem further. It seems so much simpler to shove the energy from my roof into a battery and drive away.

[โ€“] Hypx@piefed.social 1 points 4 hours ago

There is no reason why it can't be cost effective. We aren't going to run out of sunlight, and all the necessary equipment can last decades or more.