Nation's first hydrogen-powered ferry launches in Bellingham

[neurosis]

Global warming/climate change believer or not, this is pretty cool.  I haven't read much about it yet but I'm wondering how efficient it is and how practical.   


https://www.kuow.org/stories/first-hydrogen-ferry-launches-in-bellingham

A hydrogen-powered ferry, the first of its kind in the United States, has launched in Bellingham.

Most big boats run on diesel or even dirtier fuels. They belch out climate-wrecking carbon dioxide and lung-damaging pollutants, including particulates and nitrogen and sulfur oxides.

This new boat, the Sea Change, with motors powered by two hydrogen fuel cells, has very different output.

"The really great thing about this process is the only byproduct is hot water," said Ron Wille with the Bellingham shipbuilder All American Marine. "Being able to put a boat out to sea to operate where it's going to create zero emissions is certainly revolutionary."

Any pollution from running the 75-passenger catamaran would come from making its hydrogen fuel in the first place.

All American Marine built the Sea Change for Switch Maritime, an impact investment firm that aims to finance and own a fleet of zero-emission ferries to be leased to ferry operators.

[Shazam/TPP]

did someone say Hindenburg? 

[pmartin]

I like the idea, especially for large scale transportation such as rail and cargo ships.

[gcode]

The trouble with hydrogen is it only contains about 20% of the energy by volume when compared to gasoline
so it takes a lot of it compete with gasoline.

There are only 2 ways to produce hydrogen
1. it is a byproduct of methane production which is evil evil evil!!!
2. electrolysis from water which requires massive quantities of electricity

electricity from wind/solar can never produce enough power to economically produce hydrogen
electricity from nuclear power plants may be feasible but that is also evil evil evil x eleventy billion

so for the time being, using hydrogen for fuel will produce much more green house gases than is saves.

another issue is that the only way to carry enough hydrogen to be useful is to liquefy it.
This requires lots of energy to compress it and very heavy containment vessels to carry it

It turns cars into rolling bombs capable of clearing a city block if the containment vessel is breeched.

Long story short,  the long suffering tax payers will continue to subsidize the hydrogen industry 
paying out billions of dollars to line the pockets of green energy scamsters while producing far more
green house gas than just doing nothing

[Incogneeto]

Meh!!

What could go wrong??

[CNCAppsJames]

Kelly Johnson during his days at Skunk Works.

To quote Ben Rich

...the first thing I had done was to check Mark's Mechanical Engineering Handbook the engineer's bible, which told me what I already thought I knew - liquid hydrogen had no real practical application because it was too dangerous to store and handle. It was a mere laboratory curiosity.............when I showed up at Boulder Colorado, where the US Bureau of Standards maintained a cryogenic laboratory under the direction of Dr. Russell Scott, recognized as the world's expert on handling and storage of liquid hydrogen. When I told him I wanted to learn how to handle and store large amounts - like running my own tank farm - the blood drained from Dr. Scott's face..... one tank car could blow up an entire shopping mall.

This is gonna end well.

[gcode]

I thought this was cute

Sky sails

This year's forecast for the global maritime industry looks particularly breezy. Sails, kites, wings and tubes are all set to appear on cargo vessels over the course of 2022, harnessing wind energy to reduce ships' use of dirty diesel fuels. Experts count nearly two dozen new projects in the works as shipping companies look to limit emissions from carrying cargo by sea.

First on deck is a high-flying kite from Airseas, a French startup founded by former Airbus aeronautical engineers. Starting this month, Airseas will deploy its automated Seawing system on a cargo ship for the first time. The blue-and-white Ville de Bordeaux vessel will hoist the 5,400-square-foot parafoil during a six-month period of sea trials. Airbus ordered the kite for the vessel, which carries the company's aircraft parts between France and the United States.

"It's a major milestone and the beginning of an adventure for us," Stéphanie Lesage, general counsel for Airseas, told Canary Media.

[Zoffen]

I live in bellingham and will make sure to take wide birth of this bomb when I am out wingfoiling on the bay!