@AukeHoekstra@StevePeers@astonmartin@RobertBoschUK The mysterious Clarendon Communications has a LinkedIn page, but it doesn't link to any people. My friends, pretty much the only way to have a company page on LinkedIn with no staff linked to it is... not to have staff. Y'all know where this is going... linkedin.com/company/claren…
@AukeHoekstra@StevePeers@astonmartin@RobertBoschUK There are only 6 posts so far on the Clarendon Communications LinkedIn page. The most recent is a share of one by @astonmartin's Director of Global Government and Corporate Affairs, one James M Stephens. Same name - quite the coincidence, no?
1) Did @astonmartin pay @ClarendonComms, the sock puppet PR company which lists the wife (presumably) of the Director of Government Affairs as its only director, for its work on the pamphlet?
It will take until 2030 to reign in the current bout of hydrogen mania, embark on a real plan to eliminate the 2.3% of emissions currently caused by 94 Mt/year of grey & black hydrogen, and target its use on a few otherwise hard-to-decarbonise sectors. We are in the foothills. 1/
Let me be quite clear - we will need clean hydrogen. But fantasies of a hydrogen economy, hydrogen society and globally traded hydrogen market need to be abandoned. There will be a global market in ammonia, but mainly for fertilisers, chemicals, shipping fuel and some storage. 2/
Again, to be clear. The issue is not production cost. Learning curves mean green hydrogen will end up cheaper than grey. But nothing will change the physics and thermodynamics of hydrogen: low density; escapey; explodey; embrittley; NOx-producey if burnt; greenhouse gasey. 3/
Looking for something to read or listen to this weekend? I've been busy, released a whole load of stuff you won't want to miss. So much, in fact, that I've listed it all in a🧵. So pour yourself that cup of 🫖 or a glass of 🍷🍺🍸 and let's get started...
First up, my piece for @TheEconomist. It's a response to Vinod Khosla, who believes we should stop deploying wind and solar because they can't deliver "baseload" (🤣), and in a few decades something better might come along. We need research AND deployment. economist.com/by-invitation/…
Next, there were so many loose ends after my @MLCleaningUp conversation with Jorgo @Chatzimarkakis, CEO of @H2Europe, that I just had to write a piece summarising my key takeaways and debunking some of his wild claims. One for hydrogen realists everywhere! linkedin.com/pulse/jorgo-ch…
What bollox. Which other "heating alternatives" require you to change your oven, hob, gas meter and fireplaces, bring all old pipework up to standard, repair all micro-leaks, add Excess Flow Valves and ventilation, and still leave you buying more expensive fuel and breathing NOx?
If you really want to know what safety measures are required to make hydrogen as safe as gas in your home (though still less safe than eliminating gas altogether), read the report by @Arup on behalf of the government. Particularly section 14 on p101. hy4heat.info/s/conclusions-…
Fuel cost will also be 2-4 times as high. If it's blue hydrogen, you have to start with 47% more 'natural' gas for the same heat - simply chemistry - plus you have the cost of CO2 capture and storage. If it's green hydrogen, you're talking 4-6 times the electricity of heap pumps.
How it started (at least for me: lots of others had already been trying to address the UK heating industry's scandalous mis-selling, mis-installing and mis-maintanance of condensing boilers for years).
A thread for those who think we're going to be importing lots of hydrogen over vast distances.
1. Shipping liquid hydrogen is not going to be a thing. To understand why, you need to understand that hydrogen is basically liquid, -253C escapey, explodey expanded polystyrene.
2. What this means is that any comparison with LNG is, ahem, bollox. We cracked LNG shipping, but it's the most expensive gas on the market. And shipping the same BTUs as liquid hydrogen would require 3-4 times as many ships. Because of physics, not lack of learning, scale, etc.
3. Liquifying hydrogen is also a complete bear. It currently consumes 35% to 45% of the Lower Heating Value of the input. If you don't know about LHV and HHV, or about ortho-para isomer conversion, please read more and tweet less about liquid hydrogen! pubs.rsc.org/en/content/art…
Facts: There is no H2/gas blend today and may never be; no boilers are ready for 100% H2. 57% of UK power is renewable or nuclear; heat pumps multiply its impact by ~3
Now #HelloHydrogen are lobbying for blending, which would require £ tens of billions investment in electrolysis or CCS.
Facts: 20% H2 by volume would reduce emissions by 7%, less the impact of pumping load, H2 leaks and, if it's blue H2, methane leaks and incomplete CO2 capture.