Dirk Spaniel, an AfD transport lawmaker, has slammed the federal government’s emphasis on green hydrogen as a future energy source.
He told the German Press Agency, “The concept of fulfilling the energy demands of a contemporary industrialized country like Germany with green hydrogen is a myth.” For the past 30 years, the issue of storing hydrogen has remained unsolved. Spaniel worked at Daimler and did his doctoral thesis on fuel cell automobiles.
He pointed out that liquid hydrogen must be chilled to -253 degrees and segregated before being stored or transported. Diffusion (penetration) through metal is a difficulty in the gaseous state that can only be overcome with specifically alloyed and welded connections. He claims that because hydrogen has a poor energy density in volume, it must be compressed with a lot of energy and under high pressure to carry substantial amounts.
“All of this complicates and increases the cost of transit and storage,” Spaniel added. In terms of vehicle driving, he advocated for synthetic fuels. These are the only realistic options for dealing with storage and transportation issues.
The federal government sees green hydrogen as the energy source of the future, investing billions in research. Green hydrogen is hydrogen created using wind or solar energy. On Monday, Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) will fly to Australia. “In a few years, ships laden with green hydrogen created in Australia with the help of solar and wind energy will dock in Germany,” she stated.
