Worse than trotyl: what troubles hydrogen energy threatens the world

Andrey Zlobin, candidate of technical sciences, mathematician

Despite all the warnings about the dangers of switching to hydrogen energy, this dubious plan is being lobbied with a stubbornness worthy of better use. As a rule, lobbying is carried out by people who have no special education and have a poor understanding of the mass of problems associated with the widespread use of hydrogen as a fuel. Meanwhile, even schoolchildren know that hydrogen mixed with oxygen is nothing more than a "detonating gas". The very name of this gas speaks for itself. Hydrogen plus oxygen is a real explosive that can detonate no worse than TNT.

Do you have doubts? Then remember a good example from the field of energy - the Fukushima tragedy. The disaster at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant in March 2011 is the result of a hydrogen explosion. Some hotheads are already ready to seriously switch civil aviation to hydrogen fuel. They should watch the video of the disaster of the American Shuttle Challenger with the astronauts on board. This is the explosion of a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen, which scattered to shreds what was called a "reusable" aircraft and the pride of the American space program. All astronauts were killed.

Hydrogen has another major disadvantage, which is a serious hazard. This is what is said about this in the "Forecast of the development of energy in the world and Russia until 2040", prepared by the Institute of Energy Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the analytical center under the Government of the Russian Federation. "The main problem of modern hydrogen cars is their high fire and explosion hazard (hydrogen molecules can penetrate into the metal structure of the body or tank, seeping out of the car, which can lead to detonation)."

And although an example is given from the automotive industry, the same can be said about energy, aviation and any other technology that uses hydrogen as a fuel. Even steel is a leaky sieve for hydrogen, and only its special grades or a significant increase in metal thickness slightly reduce the severity of the problem. These extra tons of metal make hydrogen toys extremely dangerous and expensive.

What other arguments need to be made in order to understand that lobbying for hydrogen to replace oil and gas frankly looks like adventurism. Well, you can’t, figuratively speaking, heat homes with TNT, ride, fly or ride explosives. This will all end very badly. How many more Fukushima and Challengers have to jerk for the understanding of the prematureness of the hydrogen era to come? Where are the guarantees that having stuffed the country with "hydrogen mines" we won't get something worse than Chernobyl one day?

I believe that the game of hydrogen roulette should be stopped immediately. Scientific research in the field of hydrogen can and should be continued. And seriously relying on hydrogen energy or transport in the next few decades is a gamble. And there is no need to blow in your ears about "climate warming". From hydrogen it can "get warmer" so that it does not seem a little. I think those who are too zealous about decarbonization should be called Carbonari. Let the decarbonization begin with yourself. Russia, I think, is not obliged to listen to the Carbonari. I deeply doubt that TNT is the road to prosperity.