Show Summary
On this episode, chemical engineer Paul Martin joins The Great Simplification to talk about all things hydrogen. There are many ‘Fuels of the Future’ about which the media likes to create hopeful and seamless narratives, one of the currently popular of these being hydrogen. Where does hydrogen come from and what do we already depend on hydrogen for – is it as ‘clean’ as the media leads us to believe? How can we think about hydrogen from a systems perspective to determine if it is really an energy solution – or an energy problem? What does this mean for the design of global supply chains entering into a simplified material future?
About Paul Martin
Paul Martin is a Canadian chemical engineer with decades of experience making and using hydrogen and syngas. As a chemical process development specialist, Paul offers services to an international clientele via his private consultancy Spitfire Research. He is also co-founder of the Hydrogen Science Coalition, a nonprofit organization providing science-based information about hydrogen from a position free from commercial interest.
In French, we have a motto that says that a simple drawing is often better than a long explanation. Jean-Marc Jancovici Carbone 4 President
That’s very understandable because with left atmosphere thinking, one of the problems is that you see everything as a series of problems that must have solutions. Iain McGilchrist Neuroscientist and Philosopher
We can’t have hundreds and hundreds of real relationships that are healthy because that requires time and effort and full attention and awareness of being in real relationship and conversation with the other human. Nate Hagens Director of ISEOF
This is the crux of the whole problem. Individual parts of nature are more valuable than the biocomplexity of nature. Thomas Crowther Founder Restor
Show Notes & Links to Learn More
00:00 – Paul Martin Works + Info. Featured articles from Paul Martin: Hydrogen summary, Ammonia, Hydrogen production, uses, and the challenges of making it from renewable electricity
04:28 – What is hydrogen?
04:44 – Hydrogen and Ammonia (Haber Bosch Fertilizers)
05:21 – 99% of hydrogen is made from fossils without carbon capture
05:58 – ⅓ of hydrogen is used (Page 89) to desulphurize fossil fuels
06:28 – Sulphur level regulations in fossil fuels
07:09 – Other uses of hydrogen (Page 89)
08:01 – Hydrogen production as a byproduct of the chloralkali process
08:35 – The challenges of mechanical engineering with hydrogen
11:23 – Flammability of hydrogen
12:41 – On the 20 year time horizon, H is 33x more warming than CO2. On the 100 year time horizon H is 11.5x more warming than CO2 (Section 3.1)
14:05 – Hydrogen byproducts of being burned – depending on how you burn it
14:22 – NOx and its health/climate effects
15:34 – IPCC Forecasts
16:55 – There is no substitute for hydrogen in making ammonia and food production (Table 1.1)
17:32 – Nitrous oxide production from the soil and methods to reduce that
17:49 – 1911 Haber-Bosch process invention and corresponding crop production growth rates
18:26 – Regenerative Agriculture
18:30 – Half of nitrogen in our cells comes from Haber-Bosch cycle
19:54 – Vaclav Smil
21:55 – Hydrogen hype in the news cycle
22:08 – Nuclear fusion hype
23:12 – Receding Horizons
27:59 – What are the types (colors) of hydrogen
29:40 – Percentage of hydrogen created with carbon capture (Page 5)
30:02 – Making hydrogen produces more CO2 than the entire aviation industry
31:45 – Eric Idle, Monty Python
35:42 – Howarth and Jacobson Paper (2022) on How Green Is Blue Hydrogen?
37:43 – Henry Hub Price
41:23 – Water use for making electricity and hydrogen
42:30 – To make 1kg of Hydrogen from 9kg of water takes 50-60 kWh of electricity (Page 3)
42:45 – To desalinate 9kg of water from the ocean takes 0.035 kWh of electricity
44:11 – Sins of Thermodynamics
44:45 – Vaclav Smil on the energy transition
46:30 – Different types of energy
49:25 – Current Supply chain infrastructure dependent on liquid fuel source
51:00 – Heat Pump
53:10 – Paul’s Article analyzing heat pumps
55:52 – Canada’s Carbon Tax
56:40 – UK Discussions on using hydrogen for home heating
58:30 – Natural Gas interest in a hydrogen future
59:47 – AMOC
1:01:58 – Paul’s writing on questionable uses of Hydrogen as a fuel or storage system
1:03:01 – Energy Density of Hydrogen vs Natural Gas
1:04:38 – It takes 3x energy to compress a unit of hydrogen as it does to compress a unit of natural gas
1:07:08 – Japan and South Korea dependence on imported energy
1:07:40 – News story of natural hydrogen deposit discovery
1:08:02 – Mali natural hydrogen production well and likelihood of other widespread deposits
