Archives: Myths

Hydrogen, 2053 and all that

January 5, 2021 | By Stan Thompson | Comments Off on Hydrogen, 2053 and all that | Filed in: History, Infrastructure, Myths.

by guest blogger Stan Thompson If you’ve ever seen a slow-motion video of a dropped glass object shattering, then—the video reversed—reassembling to form the whole again, you have some notion of futurism. Futurists pay attention to the moving fragments all around us:  which are biggest; how they are shaped and spinning; and the direction toward • Read More »

DC, AC, now HC — spacetime energy transmission

November 10, 2020 | By Stan Thompson | Comments Off on DC, AC, now HC — spacetime energy transmission | Filed in: Fuel Cells, Green Hydrogen, Hydrail, Hydrogen Cars, Hydrogen Trucks, Infrastructure, Myths.

by guest blogger Stan Thompson updated 12/21/2020 In the late 1800s Nikola Tesla took Thomas Edison’s DC and alternated the polarity back and forth so that its voltage could be stepped up by a transformer and hauled much further by overcoming electrical resistance. Way off in the distance, at the user end, another transformer stepped • Read More »

The Hydrogen Transition: Kubrick’s “2001” monolith

June 20, 2020 | By Stan Thompson | Comments Off on The Hydrogen Transition: Kubrick’s “2001” monolith | Filed in: History, Hydrail, Hydrogen Aircraft, Hydrogen Economy, Hydrogen Education, Hydrogen Organizations, Infrastructure, Myths, News, Political Issues.

by guest blogger Stan Thompson The world may little note nor long remember the routine June 8, 2020, press release by Germany’s venerable Thyssenkrupp industrial giant. But to me it is a transition marker that’s profound in the same way that the tiny band of iridium and ash around the world marks the cretaceous-tertiary boundary • Read More »

A case for chemelectricity

April 20, 2020 | By Stan Thompson | Comments Off on A case for chemelectricity | Filed in: Critics, Fuel Cells, Hydrail, Hydrogen Economy, Hydrogen Fuel, Hydrogen Fuel Production, Hydrogen Fuel Storage, Myths.

by guest blogger Stan Thompson Many of us who saw the hydrogen transition coming over two decades ago are frustrated by writers today who feel obliged to apologize for the vast amount of hydrogen that goes into fertilizer and petrochemicals.  Many of these folks probably feel they have to mention it because so many have • Read More »

Can we just acknowledge the “hydrogen transition”?

December 1, 2019 | By Stan Thompson | Comments Off on Can we just acknowledge the “hydrogen transition”? | Filed in: Advocates, Fuel Cells, History, Hydrail, Hydrogen Economy, Infrastructure, Myths.

by guest blogger, Stan Thompson Let’s limit the damage to hydrogen progress caused by “friendly fire.” Good reportage, scholarship and fair play do not require that every article point out that most hydrogen comes from extracted carbon. It’s true, it’s undeniable—but it’s totally irrelevant. The vast amounts of hydrogen produced from hydrocarbons to make petrochemicals, • Read More »

Time for a hydrogen Lindbergh flight

July 30, 2018 | By Stan Thompson | Comments Off on Time for a hydrogen Lindbergh flight | Filed in: Fuel Cells, Hydrail, Hydrogen Aircraft, Myths, Uncategorized.

by guest blogger Stan Thompson (a version of this blog first appeared in my Mooresville Tribune column) Still hanging in the air is the sensationalism smoke (“Oh, the humanity!”) from the 1937 Hindenburg myth. It’s polluted the true hydrogen story for about 80 years too long.  Maybe  it’s time to clear the air by whistling-up • Read More »

Hydrail Transition: The Catenary versus the Hindenburg

February 12, 2018 | By Stan Thompson | Comments Off on Hydrail Transition: The Catenary versus the Hindenburg | Filed in: Advocates, Hydrail, Hydrogen Safety, Infrastructure, Myths.

by Guest Blogger Stan Thompson A headline in the January 2018 online issue of Britain’s Institution of Mechanical Engineers publication is the latest hydrail transition landmark: Transport Secretary calls for hydrogen trains Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has said the introduction of hydrogen-powered trains is “a priority” for Britain’s railways. The article by Amit Katwala goes • Read More »

Hydrail at Davos: the “Hydrogen Council” on-track

January 23, 2017 | By Stan Thompson | Comments Off on Hydrail at Davos: the “Hydrogen Council” on-track | Filed in: Hydrail, Hydrogen Aircraft, Hydrogen Economy, Infrastructure, Myths.

by guest blogger, Stan Thompson Media covering the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last week missed one of the biggest stories there.  The new Hydrogen Council announced at the Forum included Alstom Transport, the Paris-based train builder that’s sold 40-50 hydrail trains to four German states. Last year the German Federal Ministry of Transport published an • Read More »

Hydrail Trains Are Running Too Late: Here’s Why

October 31, 2016 | By Stan Thompson | Comments Off on Hydrail Trains Are Running Too Late: Here’s Why | Filed in: Advocates, Hydrail, Hydrogen Economy, Infrastructure, Myths, News.

by guest blogger Stan Thompson It’s been 18 years since Dr. Holger Busche proposed that German electric passenger trains could run on wind energy carried on board as hydrogen. Once pointed out, it was an obvious thing to pursue;  but the first German hydrail train won’t go into service until late next year.  The impediment hasn’t • Read More »