Life Of The Land's Hydrogen Page

Hydrogen comes in many colors colors
Black: derived from fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) or nuclear power; created by processes involving pollution or greenhouse gas emissions;
Green: derived from plants; created from renewable energy.
Blue: derived from marine plants. sometimes folded in the green category.
White: derived from genetically-engineered crops; using genetically-engineered bacteria to break down biomass


Green Hydrogen Processes convert usable renewable energy into usable hydrogen
Black Hydrogen Processes converts usable fossil fuel energy into usable hydrogen
Black Hydrogen is being pushed by the fossil fuel industry and their supporters.

Hydrogen acts as a battery, storing energy, but  you get less energy out than you put in.  The Energy Return On Investment (EROI) is negative.

The concept of a Hydrogen Roadmap often involves talking about the benefits of Green Hydrogen while pursuing Black Hydrogen projects, with the wild assumption that once techniques, costs, and processes are simplified, Black Hydrogen politicians will break with their Black Hydrogen financial backers and suddenly promote Green Hydrogen.

This approach assumes that you can bootstrap long-term sustainability through the short-term promotion of fossil fuels; or that the ends justify the means; or the threat of Climate Change is not as bad as we believe to be, that is, Mother Nature will give us the time to cut CO2 emissions by first increasing our CO2 emissions. (The Second Law of Thermodynamics dictates that we must expend more energy creating hydrogen than we get from using it)

The creating of a hydrogen economy requires the massive investment in some type or types of fossil fuel, nuclear fuel, and/or renewable energy. The other problems that must be overcome are that (1) except in minute quantities, hydrogen does not occur freely in nature (there are no hydrogen wells); (2) hydrogen is corrosive; (3) hydrogen must be stored and perhaps pressurized; (4) the existing infrastructure is not capable of supporting hydrogen; (5)  hydrogen is highly reactive: free hydrogen plus nitrogen becomes ammonia; free hydrogen plus oxygen becomes hydrogen peroxide or water); free hydrogen reacts with many metals; (6) Hydrogen is massively subsidized by taxpayers; and (7) Black Hydrogen accounts for 95 percent of hydrogen produced in the U.S.

Batteries are devices which store energy.

Life of the Land is a  Hawaii-based, Hawaii-focused environmental and community action group. Founded in 1970, the mission of Life of the Land is to preserve and protect the life of the land through sustainable land use and energy policies and to promote open government through research, education, advocacy and, when necessary, litigation. We believe that people are part of the environment. We are known for research, research, research. We cover complex issues such as genetic engineering, climate change, and quality of life issues. LOL is a 501(c)3 charitable organization. We do not attend fundraisers, testify for/against political and/or administrative candidates, nor do we rank candidates. We work on issues not people.

Contact: Life of the Land, 76 North King Street, Suite 203, Honolulu, Hawaii  96817, Email: lifeoftheland@hotmail.com Executive Director: Henry Curtis, henry.lifeoftheland@gmail.com * Assistant Executive Director: Kat Brady, katbrady@hotmail.com

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