Just heard an announcement by Bill Shorten in Gladstone that the
Labour Government will contribute $1 Million to the Hydrogen project.
He seems to think that hydrogen is a source of energy.
He said it several times. It is a worry when politicians are so
ignorant on energy matters.
Hydrogen is an energy carrier, just like electricity is an energy
carrier. It can be used in cars, trucks etc equipped with fuel cells.
There are significant disadvantages, it is not as efficient as the
coal, electricity, battery and electric motor chain.
Another disadvantage is hydrogen vehicles cannot be parked in underground parking areas.
Tests by bus manufacturers found that the lifetime of fuel cells is uneconomic.
Hydrogen can be used by internal combustion engines directly but the
efficiency is worse than fuel cells.
As an export product it is probably viable.
Japan (Toyota) has been pushing it for some years but only California
seems to have developed any interest.
I would be interested in hearing any contrary opinions.

wastage on steroids under Greens/Labour. Who could forget the 'fiscal conservative' Rudd. Australians are clueless.

Bazz we once saw critics yell about e 10 fuel too
Why if Japan is pushing it is it not viable?
Future fuels will see many things we do not yet, see as worth while

Belly why on earth would you mention Japan on this topic? If you think they don't make stupid mistakes, just think December 7, 1941.

Hydrogen is about as bad a transport fuel as is E10, & other such ethanol fuels. Anyone with enough math to make change from a bus ticket, & is interested enough to do a little research knows that it takes more energy, & produced more Co2 to produce a liter of ethanol, than the energy it can provide, or CO2 it can save.

Shorten is obviously a scientific illiterate, but so were Rudd, Gillard & Turnbull, so nothing new there.

The amount of money should have read $1Billion !
Hasbeen, I mentioned Japan, that is why Belly brought it up.
Not sure why they are interested Toyota has been producing some cars
for hydrogen for a while. One of the inefficiencies with hydrogen is
the continuous leaking. It can't be stopped because the hydrogen atom
is so small.
I think the inefficiency in the system is the number of energy
conversions where energy must be lost.
Manufacture of the solar system, conversion of electricity to hydrogen
and oxygen, convert the hydrogen to ammonia, compression of the
ammonia, energy to transport the ammonia, conversion of ammonia to
hydrogen, compression of the hydrogen, decompression for use in fuel
cells, loss in generation of electricity, loss in motor.

It is worse than I thought, apparently they use ammonia as a medium to
transport the hydrogen as it is cheaper than super cooled trucks and ships.
Still I do not have any real knowledge on all this except what floats
around the system, and pollies seem to know even less.

The fundamental problems with hydrogen are that it liquifies at -268C and is highly explosive.

The consequences is that it is stored in expensive cylinders at high pressure, which if installed in a car gives it very low mileage, and the tendency to blow up in an accident.