Is hydrogen our ticket to a greener future?

Is this limitless element our get out of jail card?

My bias towards stories with a greener, brighter future is fuelled by news like the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. It’s crystal clear that repeated failures by governments to act on the warnings provided by scientists over decades has led to the current crisis. We are now at a tipping point, many argue we’ve already past it.

Big diggers

I recently watched a JCB video, you know, the UK manufacturer, head quartered near Alton Towers, who make big yellow diggers. They were explaining the benefits of big plant being powered by liquid hydrogen and not relying on battery power like my car.

Lord Tony Bamford, the owner of his family’s firm, believes the government and others have been dazzled by Elon Musk’s success with Tesla’s battery tech, just when Volkswagen were caught cheating in the diesel gate scandal. Such is the fervour for electric solutions, alternatives like hydrogen are not getting the same attention or funding.

Quick burner

Hydrogen is a highly flammable gas as the Hindenburg airship disaster in 1937 starkly demonstrated. More positively, it’s the preferred fuel for rockets too. Hydrogen can be produced…