Radical Electrification of Transportation with Michael Barnard TFIE

[@BluesDaddyB]

Michael makes a good point about the uselessness of hydrogen technology in this video. But I have heard the point made simpler by another scientist. He said something to the effect that hydrogen technology takes electrical energy to make hydrogen that is then cooled & compressed. This product uses electricity to keep it cold and stored. Then when the hydrogen is used in transportation, it is converted back into electricity to run the electrical motors. It is much much more efficient to just use the electricity in the first place to run battery electric motors.

[@moabman6803]

That's a silly point in my opinion. When you make electricity you have no way of storing it unless you use a battery or convert it into something else. Batteries are complex and problematic. They also take a lot to charge and are not very efficient. Converting the electricity into another form such as using it to store a energy dense gas or liquid that can be stored makes sense.

[@LilEnvy]

@@moabman6803 i think the real problem is where are we going to be able to store these big hydrogen tanks. Gas stations would have to change significantly to able to keep them cool and safely contained to avoid explosion. Yes it may be efficient to use, but the process to store is the hassle and extremely dangerous. We need to find a cost effective method to implement hydrogen to the grand population.

[@KenFoxx]

The statement that in North America passenger rail is set aside to give freight priority is false. Scheduled Amtrak service takes priority over freight in all rail corridors as does metropolitan commuter rail. The 700 owners of North American Railroads is very suspect. If Bernard means stock holders, the 700 number is too low, while if he is speaking of private investors, as far as class ones rail then the number is too high by a factor of 700. The only private owner is Buffet of BNSF. While encouraging entrepreneurial development of new technologies is a great thing, Barnard promotes nationalizing industries, which is a path is a path to failure. Some of his statements sound more political than technical.