Hydrogen

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has released his 10-point plan for a “green industrial revolution.” Yesterday, Electrek wrote about the government’s plan for the UK’s electric vehicle transition by 2030. Here are the green energy highlights.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• BP and Orsted launch a green hydrogen project at a German oil refinery.
• Connecticut releases a statewide green energy jobs study. Here’s what the state found.
• This Ted Talk explains how Africa needs to develop energy in order to fight climate change.
• Arcadia Power is committed to making clean energy work for the planet and Americans’ bank accounts — all without changing your utility company. Sign up to receive your $20 Amazon Gift Card — *ad.

Airbus has revealed three concepts for the world’s first emissions-free commercial aircraft that could enter service by 2035 — and all would run on hydrogen. Each concept explores different technology pathways and aerodynamic configurations to achieve net zero.

The first hydrogen-powered dual-fuel engine with a capacity of 1 megawatt has been launched by BeHydro, a joint venture between Belgian-based ABC and CMB.

Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz is killing its program to develop passenger cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells. The company has been working on fuel-cell vehicles for more than 30 years — chasing the dream of a zero-emissions car that has a long driving range, three-minute fill-ups, and emits only water vapor. In the end, the company conceded that building hydrogen cars was too costly, about double the expense of an equivalent battery-electric vehicle.

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Scientists have found a new way to create hydrogen fuel using seawater, which could open up a new array of exciting possibilities in energy production.

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Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial, and political review/analysis of important green energy news.

Today in EGEB, the 2019 Community Power Scorecard gives out state scores for local energy. Belgian researchers reveal a special solar panel that uses air moisture to make hydrogen gas. And the Global Wind Energy Council shares global installation numbers from last year.

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People affiliated with Tesla have often been outspoken about how hydrogen fuel cells are simply a bad solution to the sustainable transport issue. Just last week we reported on Tesla co-founder and CTO, JB Straubel, going on a quick rant about hydrogen and saying that fuel cells will soon be “irrelevant” in the transportation industry.

Now another Tesla co-founder, Marc Tarpenning, went a little further than Straubel and called hydrogen fuel cells a “scam”. He also said out loud what many in the industry are thinking – that energy companies are supporting the technology for its inefficiency.
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Tesla CTO and co-founder, JB Straubel, was at the International Transport Forum (ITF) for an interesting panel on innovations in transportation this week in Leipzig, Germany. The automotive executive was facing panelists that were promoting pedestrian options, bicycles and even fuel cell-hydrogen as means to innovate in transport, which led to some interesting conversations.
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Just last month, we published an article arguing that automakers entrenched in fuel cell hydrogen vehicles, like Hyundai, Toyota and Honda, appear to be succumbing to physics and finally warming up to battery-powered vehicles.

Now Hyundai is coming out saying that it is only temporary.
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I think we are witnessing the start of a new (but long overdue) trend this year. The few established automakers still pushing fuel cell hydrogen vehicles appear to be warming up to battery-powered electric vehicles instead. Honda, Toyota and Hyundai, arguably the automakers most stuck on hydrogen, all announced new electric vehicle programs in the past few weeks.
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk stopped by the Bloomberg office to discuss TSLA stock valuation and other fun stuff this week. Of course the question of the recent Fire, which the NHTSB recently ruled was not a defect nor compliance issue, came up and Musk reiterated his stance. 
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