Page 18: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (May 2023)

The Path to Zero

HyBlend

Chickens and Eggs in

Technology

Adoption © alison1414/AdobeStock

By Rik van Hemmen will readily confess that 20 years ago I was not con- very important issue in major technology adoption.

vinced that EV’s were the answer to sustainable energy. Major technology advances are rare. Humanity has prob-

Instead, I had long been a fan of hydrogen. I was well ably encountered no more than a dozen of those.

I aware that there were technical issues associated with Some of which are: hydrogen, but was equally aware that, for total sustainable en- 1. Fire ergy, a transportable fuel is needed and hydrogen seemed to 2. Agriculture be the way to go. 3. Written word

I envisioned hydrogen generation from sustainable sources 4. Sail (wind, solar, etc) and the use of hydrogen with fuel cells in cars, 5. Steam ships and with gas turbines in airplanes. I knew battery tech- 6. Fossil fuel economy, and now … nology had technical limits (and also always will) and the de- 7. Sustainable energy velopment of hydrogen as our standard fuel would bypass that problem. Everything could run on hydrogen (or derivative syn- These technology advances are extremely cathartic and of- thetic fuels like e-methanol) and since hydrogen can be stored, ten are not easily adopted because, besides the adoption of the it would deal with the inherent variability of wind and solar. actual technology, there are also underlying associated prob-

I was wrong. Actually, I continue to be right, but missed a lems that need to be solved and they always take on a chicken 18 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • May 2023

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