Driving the hydrogen revolution
As climate change and global warming become more urgent by the day, 最新一期的零压力播客讨论了氢作为一种清洁能源如何帮助世界结束对化石燃料的破坏性依赖, heating and industrial production.
“氢在地球走向净零碳排放的过程中发挥着绝对关键的作用,” says automotive executive and engineer Dr Andy Palmer, the latest guest on Helen Sharman’s Zero Pressure podcast.
对于那些相信电动汽车(ev)和电力是未来的人来说，这可能是个新闻, but Palmer knows what he’s talking about, from both the electrification and hydrogen perspectives.
40多年来，作为汽车行业的领军人物, 他被称为“电动汽车的祖父”，因为他在日产Leaf的创造中发挥了重要作用, 也许是第一代电动汽车最突出的例子. He also led the hydrogen car team at Nissan, 在此期间，该公司与梅赛德斯-奔驰和福特合作开发氢燃料电池项目.
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Cost and clean production challenges
安迪·帕尔默告诉海伦·沙曼，目前氢被广泛采用的主要障碍是以足够清洁的方式生产氢的双重挑战, and the cost of doing so.
“We need to create clean, so-called ‘green’ hydrogen without CO2, not just the ‘grey’ byproduct of oil and gas,” he says, 指的是三种氢中的两种(另一种是“蓝”氢，它已经被清除了二氧化碳). “But green hydrogen accounts for just 1% of hydrogen production, and that’s holding hydrogen back, as well as the cost of fuel-cell technology.”
Nonetheless, with all the insights from his long automotive industry experience, 帕尔默对氢能源作为新能源支柱的地位充满信心, fossil-free transport system, even if it may be less prominent than electrification.
“轻型车辆将是电动汽车，但我认为重型卡车等更大更重的车辆将由氢燃料电池和热氢提供动力, due to the inefficiency of electric batteries. 大多数情况下，我们也可以使用内燃机来燃烧氢气和氧气, which will reduce the capex (capital expenditure).”
帕尔默认为后者是燃料电池技术可扩展之前的过渡技术, 从而提供了大量的需求，使大众市场能够负担得起. 他提到了近年来电动汽车的情况, 特别是在像挪威这样的国家，它们以补贴的形式提供激励，使市场偏向于这种更清洁的技术. Could this be a lesson to others with regards to promoting hydrogen?
A network of technologies rather than a single solution
Heating, industrial energy, 新的原料用途和发电都是氢可以取代化石燃料的可能领域. However, 帕尔默说，支持的政治和监管环境还没有到位, 尤其是因为监管往往伴随着技术的发展，而氢仍然是一项新兴技术.
If he has one overall message, though, whether it concerns transport or wider uses of hydrogen, Andy Palmer says that “We can’t pin all our hopes on one technology. There’ll always be unattended consequences for any technology, so let scientists and engineers innovate, and let ‘Darwinism’ work”, he says, 这样他们就可以通过不同技术网络的试验和错误得出最佳答案，而不是专注于单一的解决方案.
But, above all, whichever way hydrogen ends up being part of our future energy needs, 帕默说这是一个我们必须马上着手解决的问题, rather than leaving it to our children and grandchildren.
“It’s our problem now,” he says. “也许这是件好事，因为这一代人需要为此做点什么.”
“If I were ‘king of the world’, I’d not be looking at distant time horizons of 2050 or 2070, but a time horizon of 2025/2030. It’s important that the work, its scientists, 中国的政治家和工程师致力于改变我们使用能源的方式. 我们必须拯救地球，因为我们生活在这里，我们没有任何选择.”
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