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Can China Make Hydrogen Electrolyzers Cheap as It Did for Solar? If it can, hydrogen can replace natural gas, another huge win against climate change. (macropolo.org)

submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by Lugh to c/futurology

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[–] Lugh 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

In recent years, narratives about China tend to focus on various rivalries with Western countries. What's less talked about is how crucial China is to fighting climate change. If it wasn't for Chinese manufacturing bringing down the cost of solar panels, current global efforts would be dead in the water. No other country has the manufacturing capacity to do what they have done.

It's important to ask if they could do the same for hydrogen electrolyzers. If they could, it would mean green hydrogen (produced from renewables and water) is price-competitive with natural gas. Where natural gas is used, it's easy to use hydrogen instead. Over 20% of primary global energy comes from natural gas (almost as much as coal, and oil).

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 11 months ago

I'm guessing distribution infrastructure would have to change though. Hydrogen is hell on a lot of common materials.

The neat thing about smelting with hydrogen, is that apparently it can happen at much lower temperatures. Sponge iron can be made at like 600C, which is more like what you'd expect to see casting aluminum.