Expert doubts hydrogen’s potential to combat climate crisis

How many hydrogen-powered vehicles are there actually out there?
Loukia Papadopoulos

In October of 2022, engineers at the University of New South Wales successfully retrofitted a diesel engine to use hydrogen as a fuel to reduce carbon emissions.

Then, in December of last year, Airbus revealed that it was developing a hydrogen-powered fuel cell engine as one of the potential solutions to equip its zero-emission aircraft that will enter service by 2035. 

The innovations, all produced at the end of the year 2022, highlighted the many developments made in hydrogen as a fuel source. But are these innovations enough to make the sector viable?

YouTuber Sabine Hossenfelder, an energy and technology expert, explores this question in her latest video and offers key insights on how efficient hydrogen is currently and may become one day.

“Replacing fossil fuel with hydrogen seems like an ideal solution to make transportation environmentally friendly and to provide a backup for intermittent energy sources like solar and wind,” she says in her video’s description.

“But how environmentally friendly is hydrogen really? And how sustainable is it, given that hydrogen fuel cells rely on supply of rare metals like platinum and iridium? In this video, we have collected all the relevant numbers for you.”

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