Hydrogen For Shipping Claims Hit Iceberg Of Reality
The best lies are based on a grain of truth and such is the case for hydrogen as a maritime fuel
Maritime shipping is considered one of the hard to abate sectors, but it’s much less difficult than most assume. As we’ve seen in this series on electrifying everything everywhere all at once, bulk shipping will plummet with peak fossil fuel demand and batteries will power all inland and most short sea shipping.
But we’ll still need in the order of 70 million tons of marine diesel equivalent energy at the end of this transition. What will it be? Naturally, the hydrogen-for-energy crowd are pointing at their favorite molecule and derivatives of it. For this piece, let’s focus just on hydrogen itself.
What are the half truths about hydrogen, and how do they apply to maritime shipping?
The first half truth is that hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. If it’s everywhere in large amounts, it must be cheap, right? Except that hydrogen is also one of the most reactive of molecules, which means that it binds tightly to other molecules and doesn’t like to let go. Hydrogen burns well because it reacts very strongly with oxygen, giving off a lot of energy to make water. But getting the hydrogen out of the water…
