Hydrogen industry chief joins Elon Musk in calling H2 energy ‘ridiculous’

A prominent figure in the hydrogen industry has backed Elon Musk’s comments that hydrogen energy is “dumb.”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk called hydrogen “the most dumb thing I could possibly imagine for energy storage.”

During an interview recently, Musk was asked if he thought hydrogen had a role in accelerating the transition from fossil fuels.

“No,” he replied. “I really can’t emphasize this enough — the number of times I’ve been asked about hydrogen, it might be … it’s well over 100 times, maybe 200 times,” he said. “It’s important to understand that if you want a means of energy storage, hydrogen is a bad choice.”

Ridiculous H2

A top leader in the H2 industry has supported Elon Musk’s statement, citing various problems with hydrogen production and distribution.

Nam Hoon Kang, chairperson of the organizing committee of the H2 Mobility Energy Environment Technology (MEET) conference, which is being held in Seoul from September 25 to 27, said that hydrogen energy is ‘ridiculous.’

He supported his comment by saying that the current cost of producing hydrogen fuel and energy is way too high, making it difficult to afford, even for big corporations.

He said hydrogen energy is still in the early stages of development, and the technology will take some time to develop, but as of now, the “energy is ridiculous.”

However, he said Elon Musk’s comment was inspired by a fear that the hydrogen may kill his electric vehicles business.

“It [H2 energy] may be ridiculous, but we are working hard to develop the technology; the future of the hydrogen energy could be bright,” he added.

H2 high cost

The US Department of Energy (DOE) recently outlined its research and development (R&D) priorities to achieve the ambitious cost targets for clean hydrogen set by the Biden administration.

The DOE aims to significantly reduce the cost of zero-emission hydrogen by targeting a $ 1/ kilogram price.

Kang said the current price of producing a kilogram of hydrogen is about $10.

It takes work to bring the cost down, he added.

He said that bringing the cost down to $1 to produce 1 kilogram of hydrogen by 2030 is impossible.

“Hydrogen is still a very new technology, and the entire industry is working on it to bring the cost down,” he added.

However, he added that as the world transitions from gray hydrogen to green hydrogen , the cost will increase instead of decrease in the initial period.

Creating green hydrogen is a fascinating process that taps into one of the most abundant resources on Earth—water.

It starts with electrolysis, where water is split into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity.

But the key here is that the electricity must come from renewable sources like solar, wind, or hydropower. That’s what makes hydrogen “green,” as opposed to the kind that comes from fossil fuels.

The idea is to make hydrogen in a way that doesn’t pump more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. So, instead of relying on natural gas, the process uses clean, sustainable energy.

However, adding solar and wind energy to create hydrogen energy will boost the cost of H2 production at a marginal level.

The leaders are still figuring out how to produce hydrogen energy cheaply, making H2 feasible for most people.