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this post was submitted on 29 Apr 2026
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Climate
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Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.
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they do it in germany and it works well
Yes, with a tiny amount of hydrogen. Exceed 25% and appliances explode and pipes corrode in new ways causing leaks. It will ultimately be a lot cheaper to electrify everything than to switch to hydrogen
The leakage of hydrogen in widespread use (eg: not just the chemicals Industry) means a set of reactions in the atmosphere which cause a bunch of warming as well.
do you have sources on hydrogen pipelines not being possible? because they are actively being built in germany right now. i doubt that somebody builds a billion-dollar pipeline for nothing.
Hydrogen pipelines are possible and have existed for decades.
They're very possible, but existing pipes used for natural gas aren't suitable, and replacing them is more expensive than electrification.
interesting. i remember reading that hydrogen transport through hydrogen pipes costs about half of what it costs to transport the same amount of power over the same distance through electric cables. iirc the figures are: 0.6 - 1 ct/kWh for cables, 0.3 ct/kWh for hydrogen (per 100 km or 1000 km, not sure anymore). could be that i'm mixing that up though and that the number is actually only for methane gas.
We're talking household distribution here, not long-distance transport. The economics are very different when you're talking about having to open up walls and dig new holes in foundations to put in pipes.
HVDC probably comes in cheaper for long-distance transmission at this point.
yeah hydrogen to the house might not make sense. after all, gas can only be used for heating / very specific applications (steel reduction, ammonia production) while electricity can be used for everything. most humans want that flexibility in their home. so electricity is better for that. and since you already have electricity, no need for gas anymore. lower fixed costs if you only need to build 1 cable instead of 1 cable + 1 pipe.
i meant hydrogen can be stored for a year or longer and used for industrial processes where it can be piped to. steel furnace, for example.
i read up and producing hydrogen (electrolysis) has 80% energy efficiency. storing it (high pressure at 700 bar) consumes 12% of the energy in the hydrogen. source (german wikipedia on the topic). so production + storage has a total of 70% efficiency. which is pretty good i would say. especially considering for how long you can store it that way.