Scotland’s Orkney Islands produce more clean energy than their inhabitants can use. Their next step? Hydrogen.
Hydrogen is not free of problems: it degrades metal, leaks above a very low level have the potential to negate the environmental benefits, and it’s not particularly efficient because of the cost of compression. And Green hydrogen (which is more like a battery than a fuel) risks providing Big Carbon with a new excuse to pollute with their multi-coloured array of non-Green hydrogens (which are filthy fuels, nothing like a battery).
But I’m not at all convinced about nuclear providing better answers than renewables. It takes decades for a new nuclear plant to come online, the same money invested in renewables starts yielding benefits immediately. And the problem of disposing of nuclear waste is not yet solved.
How hydrogen is transforming these tiny Scottish islands
Hydrogen is not free of problems: it degrades metal, leaks above a very low level have the potential to negate the environmental benefits, and it’s not particularly efficient because of the cost of compression. And Green hydrogen (which is more like a battery than a fuel) risks providing Big Carbon with a new excuse to pollute with their multi-coloured array of non-Green hydrogens (which are filthy fuels, nothing like a battery).
But I’m not at all convinced about nuclear providing better answers than renewables. It takes decades for a new nuclear plant to come online, the same money invested in renewables starts yielding benefits immediately. And the problem of disposing of nuclear waste is not yet solved.