India Launches First Hydrogen-Powered Train | PM Modi Flags Off Green Rail Revolution

Good news! India is only the fifth country in the world with a hydrogen powered train!

(234) India Launches First Hydrogen-Powered Train | PM Modi Flags Off Green Rail Revolution | Wion News - YouTube

Airbus wants to build world’s first hydrogen fuel jet engine by 2035

Ambitious! This is quite a commitment given it's 10 years into the future plan!

"Airbus and Germany’s MTU Aero Engines have partnered to develop the world’s first fully electric hydrogen fuel cell aircraft engine by 2035."

"Electric hydrogen-powered aircraft were once considered a costly pipe dream, but recent advancements show it’s possible. One of the industry’s biggest aeronautics companies is pushing forward with plans to develop its own next-generation plane engine. On July 7, Airbus confirmed a partnership with Germany’s MTU Aero Engines to design and construct the world’s first aircraft engine powered entirely by electric hydrogen fuel cells.

A newly formed joint company aims to begin in 2027, depending on regulatory approvals from the European Union. Both sides previously entered into a memorandum of understanding at last year’s Paris Air Show ..."

The Flyover

Airbus wants to build world’s first hydrogen fuel jet engine | Popular Science "Commercial hydrogen planes could take off by 2035."

Airbus and MTU Aero Engines to create a joint venture to develop a fully electric hydrogen fuel cell engine (original news release)

Cellula Robotics Proves fully submerged Envoy AUV Exceeds 2,000km powered by Hydrogen Fuel Cells

Amazing stuff!

Cellula Robotics Proves Submerged Endurance as Envoy AUV Exceeds 2,000km with Hydrogen Fuel Cells | UST

Cellula’s Envoy AUV Exceeds 2,000 km Submerged on Hydrogen Fuel Cell Power (original news release) "Fully submerged mission exceeded published performance specification in a non-linear underwater profile representative of real subsea operations"

Credits: Brennstoffzelle unter Wasser: Wasserstoff-U-Boot fährt 2000 km am Stück

Fraunhofer ISI zerlegt Wasserstoff-Mythen und zeigt die Grenzen

Empfehlenswert! Wer glaubt, das Wasserstoff die beste, machbare Lösung für die sogenannte Energiewende ist irrt sich vielleicht!

"Wasserstoff gilt vielen als Schlüssel zur Klimaneutralität. Er soll Flugzeuge antreiben, Häuser heizen und die Industrie retten. Doch wie realistisch sind diese Szenarien? Das Fraunhofer-Institut für System- und Innovationsforschung (ISI) hat in einem umfassenden Meta-Faktencheck mehr als 100 Studien ausgewertet.

Das Ergebnis ist eine deutliche Warnung vor zu viel Euphorie. Wasserstoff ist eine wertvolle Ressource, aber er ist kein Allheilmittel. Wo die Grenzen liegen und warum wir uns bei der Infrastruktur konzentrieren müssen, zeigt die aktuelle Analyse. ...

Der Befund ist klar: Wasserstoff wird eine wichtige Rolle spielen, aber er wird das Energiesystem nicht dominieren. Er ersetzt Strom nicht, sondern ergänzt ihn in bestimmten Anwendungen. Ein flächendeckender Einsatz, wie er häufig diskutiert wird, ist weder wirtschaftlich noch energetisch sinnvoll. ...

Für die Herstellung von Wasserstoff werden je nach Verfahren rund 50 bis 60 kWh Strom pro Kilogramm benötigt. Eine breite Nutzung würde den Strombedarf des Energiesystems erheblich erhöhen.

Hinzu kommen weitere Verluste entlang der Kette:

• Erzeugung: Elektrolyse reduziert den Wirkungsgrad deutlich
• Logistik: Kompression oder Verflüssigung kostet zusätzliche Energie
• Anwendung: In Brennstoffzellen oder bei der Verbrennung gehen weitere Anteile verloren

..."

Fraunhofer ISI zerlegt Wasserstoff-Mythen und zeigt die Grenzen

Wasserstoff: Meta-Faktencheck liefert Antworten auf zentrale Fragen

Neuartige Wasserstoff-Heizung wird in Offenbach getestet

Nachdem alle Kernkraftwerke abgeschaltet wurden setzen die Deutschen nun auf Wasserstoff!

Wie gut beherrschen wir inzwischen dieses explosive Gas? Wie vergleichbar ist Wasserstoff mit Erdgas?

Kleiner Hinweis: Hindenburg Katastrophe von 1937.

Nebenbei bemerkt: In der Vergangenheit hatte Offenbach nicht gerade den besten Ruf.

"... Ihr einziges Abfallprodukt ist Wasserdampf. [???] ..." Wirklich! Was für ein demagogischer Unsinn! Wieviel Wasserdampf würde entstehen wenn fast alle Haushalte und Betriebe einer Großstadt mit Wasserstoff geheizt werden? Wasserdampf ist nicht so harmlos, wie hier so typisch vorgegaukelt wenn es um Wasserstoff heizen geht!

Neuartige Wasserstoff-Heizung: Wo sie Sinn macht – und wo nicht "In Offenbach läuft die weltweit erste katalytische H₂-Heizung. Hat die flammenlose Technik eine Zukunft?"

Das laut Hyting erste katalytische Wasserstoff-Luftheizsystem weltweit soll Maßstäbe in der Heiztechnik setzen.

Source

Ukraine Deploys First Hydrogen-Powered Combat Drone

Amazing stuff!

"Ukraine has, for the first time, sent into combat a hybrid drone powered by hydrogen fuel. According to the builder Skyeton, a variant of its Raybird was deployed for full-scale combat duty with the Ukrainian Armed Forces in an active war zone.

Hydrogen-powered drones aren't exactly new. They've been around for almost 20 years, though previous examples were mainly technology demonstrators and experimental prototypes. Usually, these were intended as long-endurance, high-altitude craft, though an Israeli-US system called Heven AeroTech Z1 is intended for front-line missions, but this has yet to be deployed. ...

The hybrid system means that craft is quieter compared to a four-stroke engine and has a negligible heat signature, though its altitude is limited to 18,000 ft (5,500 m). ..."

Ukraine Deploys First Hydrogen-Powered Combat Drone

The Raybird is the first hydrogen drone sent into combat

Solar hydrogen can now be produced efficiently without the scarce metal platinum

Good news! This could be a breakthrough! Photocatalysis without platinum  instead of electrolysis!

However, what are the effects of hydrogen power at large scale on the environment?

I have previously blogged here oft my critical opinion about hydrogen and water! And always remember the Hindenburg disaster of 1937!

"A research team led by Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have presented a new way to produce hydrogen gas without the scarce and expensive metal platinum. Using sunlight, water and tiny particles of electrically conductive plastic, the researchers show how the hydrogen can be produced efficiently, sustainably and at low cost. ...

In a new study, published in the scientific journal Advanced Materials, a research team led by Professor Ergang Wang at Chalmers, show how solar energy can be used to produce hydrogen gas efficiently – and completely without platinum.  ...

The key to the new approach lies in advanced materials design of the electrically conductive plastic used in the process. This type of plastic, known as conjugated polymers, absorbs light efficiently, but is typically less compatible with water.

By adjusting the material properties at the molecular level, the researchers made the material much more water compatible.

“We also developed a way to form the plastic into nanoparticles that can enhance the interactions with water and boost the light-to-hydrogen process. The improvement comes from more loosely packed, more hydrophilic polymer chains inside the particles” ..."

From the abstract:

"While the interest in hydrogen photocatalysis from organic semiconductors is rapidly growing, there is a necessity to achieve hydrogen production without platinum (Pt), considering its price, availability and toxicity.

In this work, this is demonstrated that high hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) efficiencies can be achieved without the use of Pt. A series of low-cost conjugated polymers are designed around the dibenzothiophene-S,S-sulfoxide (BTSO) unit, and self-assembled as nanoparticles in water via the nanoprecipitation technique.

This is highlighted that how side chain engineering, nanoparticle morphology and pH influence the hydrogen evolution rate.

Optoelectronic properties are improved through a Donor-Acceptor structure, resulting in an unprecedented hydrogen evolution reaction rate of 209 mmol g−1 h−1 in the absence of Pt.

A clear correlation between high efficiencies and number of BTSO units within the polymer backbone can be established. The design rules pioneer the design of future organic materials is presented for a cost-efficient and sustainable hydrogen photocatalysis."

Solar hydrogen can now be produced efficiently without the scarce metal platinum | Chalmers

Highly Efficient Platinum-Free Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution From Low-cost Conjugated Polymer Nanoparticles (open access, published in July 2025)

Credits: Wasserstoff aus Sonnenlicht: Gelingt so der große Durchbruch?

In the reactor at the chemistry laboratory at Chalmers, bubbles of hydrogen gas can be easily seen with the naked eye as they form – showing that photocatalysis is happening efficiently.

Fig. 1 Reported Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER) rates in the literature, updated in January 2025, and compared to the HER rate achieved in this work.

Fig. 2 a) Chemical structure of the polymers synthesized through a Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling polycondensation, highlighting in blue the electron accepting BTSO unit and in pink the electron donating thiophene unit.

b) Schematic representation of the nanoprecipitation mechanism, resulting in water-dispersed nanoparticles.

c) Absorption,

d) nanoparticle size distribution and e) hydrogen evolution of PFBTSO and PFgBTSO nanoparticles dispersed in water. Absorption spectra intensities were normalised at 405 nm. Photocatalytic experiments were performed using 0.25 mg of polymer nanoparticles in 10 mL of water, 0.1 M of ascorbic acid, no additional Pt cocatalyst and under 1 sun.

Warum grüner Wasserstoff selbst im Best-Case-Szenario ein Desaster ist! – Christian Loose (AfD)

Empfehlenswert! Typisch Bananenrepublik D!

A low-cost catalytic cycle could advance the separation, storage and transportation of hydrogen

Good news! However, would it not be better to generate hydrogen from water?

Always remember the Hindenburg disaster of 1937!

"... Despite its potential for various real-world applications, hydrogen is often expensive to produce, store and safely transport to desired locations. Moreover, before it can be used, it typically needs to be purified, as hydrogen produced industrially is typically mixed with other gases, such as carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO₂), nitrogen (N₂) and light hydrocarbons. ...

Researchers ... recently devised a new strategy to separate hydrogen from impurities at low temperatures, while also enabling its safe storage and transportation. Their proposed method ... relies on a reversible chemical reaction between two organic compounds that act as hydrogen carriers, enabling the reversible absorption and release of hydrogen.  ...

The strategy they proposed relies on a low-cost catalytic cycle, which involves the reversible interconversion of the compounds γ-butyrolactone (GBL) and 1,4-butanediol (BDO). ...

"Using crude hydrogen feeds with over 50 vol.% impurities, GBL is hydrogenated to BDO at 170 oC, achieving >99.2% H2-to-BDO selectivity while suppressing side reactions," ... "The hydrogen-rich BDO can then be safely stored and transported using existing liquid fuel infrastructure. Upon demand, catalytic dehydrogenation regenerates GBL and releases high-purity hydrogen (>99.998%), free of COx impurities." ...

used an inexpensive copper-based catalyst to capture hydrogen from impure industrial gas streams and store it in BDO, a cheap and safe oil-like liquid. Notably, this liquid can be transported using the same tanks, pipelines and trucks that are currently used to transport other fuels. When it reaches its destination, the hydrogen stored in the liquid can be easily released with high purity. ...

"A key advantage of our strategy is that both the catalyst and the liquid organic hydrogen carriers or LOHC (GBL/BDO) are abundant and inexpensive," ...

"Moreover, hydrogen capture and storage occur in a single step, simplifying the overall system. Our approach is safe and scalable ..."

From the abstract:

"Industrially, hydrogen production often relies on carbon-based resources, necessitating the separation of hydrogen from impurities such as CO, CO2, hydrocarbons and N2. Traditional purification methods involve complicated and energy-intensive sequential conversion and removal of these impurities.

Here we introduce a reversible catalytic cycle based on the interconversion between γ-butyrolactone and 1,4-butanediol over an inverse Al2O3/Cu catalyst, enabling efficient hydrogen separation and storage from crude hydrogen feeds. This process could transform crude hydrogen feeds containing over 50% impurities into pure hydrogen at low temperature.

The low impurity affinity and high dispersion of inverse Al2O3/Cu facilitate catalytic crude and waste hydrogen separations previously considered unachievable. This approach avoids the need for expensive pressure swing adsorption or membrane systems in liquid organic hydrogen carriers, showing great potential for large-scale applications in crude hydrogen or industrial tail gas utilization processes. By providing a low-risk, energy-efficient alternative, this strategy supports the global transition from grey/blue hydrogen to green hydrogen."

A low-cost catalytic cycle could advance the separation, storage and transportation of hydrogen

A catalytic cycle that enables crude hydrogen separation, storage and transportation (no public access)

Storing hydrogen in oil-like liquid could allow easy transport in trucks and ships. Really!

Good news! Could this be a breakthrough towards a hydrogen powered future?

The research article is actually about separating hydrogen in crude hydrogen from its impurities and not really about storage.

Never forget the Hindenburg disaster of 1937 when it comes to hydrogen! One spark is all it takes (e.g. as you may remember chemistry lessons in high school).

The demagogues of hydrogen power never fail to mention that burning hydrogen converts only to water. What happens if you do this at a large scale?

"As a fuel, hydrogen has one major attraction. When it burns or powers a fuel cell, it creates only water—and no climate-warming carbon dioxide. After that, the caveats start. To ship it or store it, the gas must be crushed under intense pressures or liquefied at ultracold temperatures, which raises costs. Now, researchers report the discovery of a cheap catalyst that adds hydrogen atoms to oil-like molecules that are liquid at ambient temperature and pressure. That means hydrogen could be stored and shipped in existing tanks, trucks, and pipelines, much like gasoline. ..."

From the abstract:

"Industrially, hydrogen production often relies on carbon-based resources, necessitating the separation of hydrogen from impurities such as CO, CO2, hydrocarbons and N2. Traditional purification methods involve complicated and energy-intensive sequential conversion and removal of these impurities.

Here we introduce a reversible catalytic cycle based on the interconversion between γ-butyrolactone and 1,4-butanediol over an inverse Al2O3/Cu catalyst, enabling efficient hydrogen separation and storage from crude hydrogen feeds.

This process could transform crude hydrogen feeds containing over 50% impurities into pure hydrogen at low temperature. The low impurity affinity and high dispersion of inverse Al2O3/Cu facilitate catalytic crude and waste hydrogen separations previously considered unachievable. This approach avoids the need for expensive pressure swing adsorption or membrane systems in liquid organic hydrogen carriers, showing great potential for large-scale applications in crude hydrogen or industrial tail gas utilization processes. By providing a low-risk, energy-efficient alternative, this strategy supports the global transition from grey/blue hydrogen to green hydrogen."

 

Storing hydrogen in oil-like liquid could allow easy transport in trucks and ships | Science | AAAS

A catalytic cycle that enables crude hydrogen separation, storage and transportation (no public access)

What about hydrogen power as a future source of energy?

Many charlatans/demagogues want to indoctrinate the public on the narrative of so called "clean energy" and "water vapor".

Potentially, huge quantities of hydrogen gas could be produced by splitting water (from the oceans) using electricity from solar panels.

However, there are some serious considerations and technical/engineering challenges:

1. How to store large amounts of hydrogen? The volumetric energy density is low, which means e.g. more storage is needed.
   How much energy will be needed to compress hydrogen or to maintain the storage?
2. Are there better ways to produce hydrogen than splitting water with electricity?
3. At large, global scale, how will we deal with all the water vapor and the oxygen generated by splitting water?
4. Hydrogen is a very hazardous gas. Remember the Hindenburg Disaster of 1937!
5. How do we mass transport hydrogen gas e.g. from producer to user?

I am very confident, we can find solutions to these issues thanks to human ingenuity! 

However, e.g. currently way too much money is wasted on environmentally harmful and intermittent wind power and solar power instead of focusing it on e.g. nuclear fusion, superconductivity, and hydrogen power.

Sensorik für den sicheren Einsatz von Wasserstoff

Für alle die von Wasserstoff als kommenden Energieträger schwärmen. Wasserstoff ist gefährlich!

Man erinnere sich nur an die Hindenburg Unglück von 1937.

Sensorik für den sicheren Einsatz von Wasserstoff "Fraunhofer-Forschende haben Sensorsysteme und Messgeräte entwickelt, die Lecks in Wasserstoffleitungen oder Tanks aufspüren. Damit lassen sich auch Wasserstofftransporte oder Anlagen in der chemischen Industrie laufend überwachen. Die Forschenden nutzen mehrere Sensortechnologien, um möglichst viele Szenarien der zukünftigen Wasserstoffwirtschaft mit Sicherheitstechnik versorgen zu können."

Green hydrogen: Big gaps between ambition and implementation

Dangerous hydrogen might be part of the solution of future energy supply!

Don't forget the Hindenburg Disaster of 1937!

Global Warming is a hoax and Climate Change is a religion.

Heavy Big Government socialist interventions are needed! Do we want that?

"In recent years, more than 60 countries have developed strategies to stimulate the market ramp-up of hydrogen, particularly in the industrial sector. However, in 2023, less than ten percent of the originally announced green hydrogen production was realised ...

The two researchers therefore recommend using demand-side instruments such as binding quotas to channel green hydrogen specifically into sectors that are difficult to electrify, such as aviation, steel or chemicals. For example, according to an EU regulation, 1.2 percent of all aviation fuels must be blended with synthetic fuels based on hydrogen from 2030. This quota is set to rise to 35 percent by 2050. ..."

From the abstract:

"Green hydrogen is critical for decarbonizing hard-to-electrify sectors, but it faces high costs and investment risks. Here we define and quantify the green hydrogen ambition and implementation gap, showing that meeting hydrogen expectations will remain challenging despite surging announcements of projects and subsidies. Tracking 190 projects over 3 years, we identify a wide 2023 implementation gap with only 7% of global capacity announcements finished on schedule.

In contrast, the 2030 ambition gap towards 1.5 °C scenarios has been gradually closing as the announced project pipeline has nearly tripled to 422 GW within 3 years. However, we estimate that, without carbon pricing, realizing all these projects would require global subsidies of US$1.3 trillion (US$0.8–2.6 trillion range), far exceeding announced subsidies. Given past and future implementation gaps, policymakers must prepare for prolonged green hydrogen scarcity. Policy support needs to secure hydrogen investments, but should focus on applications where hydrogen is indispensable."

Green hydrogen: Big gaps between ambition and implementation — Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research

The green hydrogen ambition and implementation gap (open access)

Credits: Grüner Wasserstoff: Studie zeigt drei zentrale Hindernisse auf

Wasserstoff - Klimawahnminister Habecks Wunderwaffe zur Selbstzerstörung der deutschen Wirtschaft

Ist der Habeck wirklich solch ein Schwachkopf! 

Wasserstoff als sichere und verlässliche Energiequelle im grossen Massstab ist noch einige Jahre entfernt!

Wasserstoff - Habecks Wunderwaffe zur Selbstzerstörung der deutschen Wirtschaft "Habecks Goldenes Kalb. Das Wasserstoffmärchen Robert Habecks wird mit einem großen Knall enden: Mit der Verpuffung deutschen Wohlstands im Zuge einer fortschreitenden Deindustrialisierung im Namen des "Klimaschutzes". Expertise und Realitätssinn: Fehlanzeige."

Magnet-cooled crystals could help liquefy hydrogen fuel based on the giant magnetocaloric effect

Good news! A "giant" effect? 😊

Still, the million dollar question is how safe will be the handling of hydrogen overall? Remember, e.g. the Hindenburg disaster of 1937!

"Researchers have made a material capable of cooling substances down to -253°C – enough to liquefy hydrogen – using magnets.

They say their research ... could provide a cheaper and more sustainable way to supercool hydrogen fuel for storage and transport.

The researchers tapped into the “magnetocaloric effect”: applying magnetic fields to certain substances can change their temperature. ...

The pink crystals could cool to 20 Kelvin, or -253°C. Just 20°C above absolute zero, this is cool enough to prompt the condensation of hydrogen, rendering it a liquid. ..."

"... Blake used magnetocaloric cooling to reach 20°K, cold enough to liquify hydrogen. This has been done before, but only with materials containing rare-earth metals. ..."

From the abstract:

"Magnetic refrigeration, which utilizes the magnetocaloric effect, can provide a viable alternative to the ubiquitous vapor compression or Joule-Thompson expansion methods of refrigeration. For applications such as hydrogen gas liquefaction, the development of magnetocaloric materials that perform well in moderate magnetic fields without using rare-earth elements is highly desirable. Here we present a thorough investigation of the structural and magnetocaloric properties of a novel layered organic-inorganic hybrid coordination polymer Co4(OH)6(SO4)2[enH2] (enH2 = ethylenediammonium). Heat capacity, magnetometry and direct adiabatic temperature change measurements using pulsed magnetic fields reveal a field-dependent ferromagnetic second-order phase transition at 10 K << 15 K. Near the hydrogen liquefaction temperature and in a magnetic field change of 1 T, a large maximum value of the magnetic entropy change,  = − 6.31 J kg−1 K−1, and an adiabatic temperature change, 

 = 1.98 K, are observed. These values are exceptional for rare-earth-free materials and competitive with many rare-earth-containing alloys that have been proposed for magnetic cooling around the hydrogen liquefaction range."

Magnet-cooled crystals could help liquefy hydrogen fuel

Magnetocaloric cooling method produces liquid hydrogen using environmentally friendly technology

Giant magnetocaloric effect in a rare-earth-free layered coordination polymer at liquid hydrogen temperatures (open access)

Fig. 1: Structure of Co4(OH)6(SO4)2[enH2].

Hydrogen stored in iron: A cheap, scalable grid battery

Good news! However, I think, it sounds a bit too good to be true (400 degrees °C, water storage in a tank)

"While hydrogen's high energy per mass makes it an excellent fuel, it's awfully hard and expensive to store long-term. ...

Surplus solar power is used to split water to produce hydrogen in the summer; it's then streamed into stainless steel reactors filled with iron ore at 752 °F (400 °C). The hydrogen extracts oxygen from the iron oxide, so you're left with iron and water in the reactor, ready to store without expending a lot of energy. ..."

"In brief

• Storing hydrogen is expensive and inefficient. In a pilot plant  ... researchers are showing how this could soon change.
• The researchers react the hydrogen with iron oxide in three reactors. The resulting iron is easy to store and convert back into hydrogen and iron oxide.
• The pilot plant is to be expanded such that by 2026, one-fifth of the ... campus’s winter electricity requirements can be met with solar power.

... To store hydrogen better ... team are relying on the steam-iron process, which has been understood since the 19th century. If there is a surplus of solar power available in the summer months, it can be used to split water to produce hydrogen. This hydrogen is then fed into a stainless steel reactor filled with natural iron ore at 400 degrees Celsius. There, the hydrogen extracts the oxygen from the iron ore – which in chemical terms is simply iron oxide – resulting in elemental iron and water. ..."

From the abstract:

"Our society is gradually moving from traditional energy sources to renewables. Due to the temporal mismatch between the production and demand of renewables, seasonal energy storage is proposed as a way to bridge the gap and ensure reliable power supply throughout the year. In this article, we demonstrate a seasonal energy storage process based on the redox pair iron/iron oxide, where energy is stored in the form of fine iron powder produced on-site by reducing iron oxide with electrolytic hydrogen, and released by oxidizing iron with steam. We prove its feasibility at a technically relevant scale, in a 1 : 10 scaled-down pilot reactor representing the electricity need of a typical European household. The operating data of the reactor, together with physico-chemical analysis of the iron/iron oxide during this process, and calculated estimation of its investment cost, provide a solid foundation for its future application in the field of energy storage."

Hydrogen stored in iron: A cheap, scalable grid battery for the winter

Iron as an inexpensive storage medium for hydrogen (original news release) "Researchers at ETH Zurich are using iron to store hydrogen safely and for long periods. In the future, this technology could be used for seasonal energy storage."

Safe seasonal energy and hydrogen storage in a 1 : 10 single-household-sized pilot reactor based on the steam-iron process (open access)

The charging and discharging process for the storage technology

The Dirty Secret Behind the Green Hydrogen Push

This video is not recommendable! It is a hodge podge of propaganda and demagoguery. Facts are that Hydrogen is a very dangerous gas (Hint: Hindenburg disaster), it will require huge government subsidies, it is not clean at all!

World first for Kawasaki as hydrogen-powered Ninja motorcycle makes public debut

How many of these hydrogen powered motorcycles have exploded or will explode?

We are told the burning of hydrogen only produces water! However, at large scale will it be too much water?

Remember the Hindenburg Disaster of 1937!

Maybe one day we will be able to manage this explosive gas safely! Until then count me skeptical!

World first for Kawasaki as hydrogen-powered Ninja makes public debut As we move to a zero-carbon transport future, Kawasaki is testing the waters of greener and cleaner motorcycle technologies. Following the reveal of a hydrogen-powered Ninja H2 SX last year, the prototype has made its first public appearance in Japan.

How our 2-billion-year-old microbial ancestors archaea made energy with hydrogen

Amazing stuff!

Will hydrogen become a viable alternative source of energy?

With hydrogen keep in mind: The Hindenburg Disaster of 1937! Hydrogen is dangerous, but human ingenuity will eventually learn to handle hydrogen safely.

"New research has redefined our understanding of how archaea – our 2-billion-year-old microbial ancestors – used hydrogen gas to produce energy. ...
There are 3 main domains of life on Earth: Eukarya, Archaea and Bacteria. ...
The team analysed the genomes of thousands of archaea and found they use unusual enzymes called [FeFe]-hydrogenases. Before this research, it was thought these enzymes were only produced by eukaryotes and bacteria.
And the archaeans’ hydrogen-using enzymes are the smallest and most complex. ..."

"... The findings, published today in Cell, explain how these tiny lifeforms make energy by consuming and producing hydrogen. This simple but dependable strategy has allowed them to thrive in some of Earth’s most hostile environments for billions of years. ...
The most widely accepted scientific theory also suggests that eukaryotes, such as humans, evolved from a very ancient lineage of archaea merging with a bacteria cell through exchanging hydrogen gas. ...

The team analysed the genomes of thousands of archaea for hydrogen-producing enzymes and then produced the enzymes in the lab to study their characteristics. They discovered that some archaea use unusual types of enzymes called [FeFe]-hydrogenases.

The archaea making these hydrogen-using enzymes were found in many of Earth’s most challenging environments, including hot springs, oil reservoirs, and deep beneath the seafloor. ..."

From the highlights and abstract:

"Highlights

• Archaea from nine different phyla encode structurally diverse [FeFe] hydrogenases

• Active ultraminimal [FeFe] hydrogenases are produced by uncultured DPANN archaea

• Ancient hybrid [FeFe] and [NiFe] hydrogenases are encoded by diverse archaea

• Hydrogen-producing Asgard archaeal cultures express [FeFe] hydrogenases

Summary

Microbial hydrogen (H2) cycling underpins the diversity and functionality of diverse anoxic ecosystems. Among the three evolutionarily distinct hydrogenase superfamilies responsible, [FeFe] hydrogenases were thought to be restricted to bacteria and eukaryotes. Here, we show that anaerobic archaea encode diverse, active, and ancient lineages of [FeFe] hydrogenases through combining analysis of existing and new genomes with extensive biochemical experiments. [FeFe] hydrogenases are encoded by genomes of nine archaeal phyla and expressed by H2-producing Asgard archaeon cultures. We report an ultraminimal hydrogenase in DPANN archaea that binds the catalytic H-cluster and produces H2. Moreover, we identify and characterize remarkable hybrid complexes formed through the fusion of [FeFe] and [NiFe] hydrogenases in ten other archaeal orders. Phylogenetic analysis and structural modeling suggest a deep evolutionary history of hybrid hydrogenases. These findings reveal new metabolic adaptations of archaea, streamlined H2 catalysts for biotechnological development, and a surprisingly intertwined evolutionary history between the two major H2-metabolizing enzymes."

How our 2-billion-year-old microbial ancestors archaea made energy with hydrogen

Scientists unlock secrets of how the third form of life makes energy (original press release)

Minimal and hybrid hydrogenases are active from archaea (open access)

Graphical abstract

Figure 1 Phylogenetically and metabolically diverse archaea encode [FeFe] hydrogenases

Trillions of tons of buried hydrogen: Clean energy gold rush begins. Really!

There is a good chance that hydrogen is another swindle/scam like wind power! A transient euphoria?

What are the environmental consequences of hydrogen mining on a large scale?

How dangerous is handling the highly flammable and combustible hydrogen? Hint: Hindenburg Disaster!

"... In short, there are as many as 5.5 trillion tons of hydrogen in underground reservoirs worldwide. It may have been generated by the interaction of certain iron-rich minerals with subterranean water. In some cases, it may be fixed in with other gases such as methane, from which it would need to be separated. But it's there, in such extraordinary quantities that analysts are expecting a gold hydrogen rush at a global scale. ...

It may not be super easy to get to: "Most hydrogen is likely inaccessible," ... "But a few per cent recovery would still supply all projected demand – 500 million tonnes a year – for hundreds of years." ..."

Trillions of tons of buried hydrogen: Clean energy gold rush begins

Geologists signal start of hydrogen energy ‘gold rush’ (behind paywall)