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Black_Moons t1_iyj886d wrote

Reply to comment by LucyEleanor in New device can make hydrogen when dunked in salt water by TurretLauncher

Yep. Electrolysis is very inefficient. But even if you made it 100% efficient, and somehow made an IEC engine 100% efficient, you'd still only be making an energy storage system at best.

Realistically, the above two systems are like, 60% and 30% efficient at best? So your talking 18% overall. Not really worth doing until we have so much renewable energy that what to do with all the extra between the hours of X and Y becomes an issue.

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LucyEleanor t1_iyj90yp wrote

We can make hydrogen fuel cell systems smaller and lighter than normal ice's though, so atleast they have their use in drones.

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ledow t1_iyjjd6o wrote

Hydrogen needs to be stored at 10,000 psi to come anywhere NEAR the energy density of a conventional fuel.

Though you can get more energy per kilo of hydrogen, you can't do that without basically compressing it to enormous pressures or taking up a ton of room, or using up lots of chemicals and energy to lock it into other substances (which add to the mass).

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LucyEleanor t1_iyjjhkb wrote

Well drones do use mini scuba tank guys full of compressed h2. Idk the psi tho

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