For years the freight industry tried to force a false choice. Battery-electric or hydrogen. Back the right horse. Ignore the rest. Daimler Truck’s new Mercedes-Benz NextGenH2 Truck gives Tesla Semis a run for their money and suggests that the argument is already getting old.

Daimler says its new liquid-hydrogen fuel cell truck will enter small-series production from the end of 2026, with 100 trucks planned for customer operations. The truck is designed for ranges of well over 800 miles on a single fill and borrows major components from the battery-electric eActros 600, including the integrated e-axle, digital cockpit and latest safety systems. That matters because it points to something more realistic than a clean-tech cage match: the future of freight is likely to be electric and hydrogen, depending on route logic, geography, infrastructure and what is actually being hauled.

This is not a small distinction. It changes how ports, logistics firms, governments and even investors should think about decarbonizing freight. A battery-electric truck and a hydrogen truck are not moral rivals. They are tools for different jobs.

Battery-electric trucks are rapidly becoming the better answer for repeatable, corridor-based freight. Think port-to-warehouse routes, retail distribution loops, industrial zones and regional supply chains where trucks can charge during planned dwell times. They are quieter, simpler, mechanically cleaner and increasingly economical where charging can be controlled. That is why Daimler has already been pushing the eActros 600 hard into the market and why other manufacturers are racing to scale their own heavy-duty electric fleets. In those settings, batteries make obvious sense.

Hydrogen comes into its own where the route gets longer, the payload gets heavier and the downtime becomes more expensive. That is exactly the space Daimler is targeting with the NextGenH2. Liquid hydrogen allows the truck to carry more energy on board than compressed gaseous hydrogen, and much more usable long-haul range than many battery systems can currently offer without weight and charging tradeoffs.

Daimler says the truck can be refueled in 10 to 15 minutes using its sLH2 liquid hydrogen standard and that the system is designed to make the vehicle more comparable to diesel in real operations. That is the real benchmark in freight. Not whether the truck is futuristic, but whether it can actually replace a diesel workhorse on the routes that matter.

That also explains why the truck shares so much DNA with the eActros 600. Daimler is not building two completely separate futures. It is building one freight architecture with two energy pathways. The e-axle, digital cockpit, battery buffer, assistance systems and even aerodynamic elements are converging. The truck may store energy differently, but the logic of the vehicle is becoming unified. That is important because the clean freight revolution will not happen if every technology lives in its own expensive silo. It has to become modular, scalable and familiar enough for fleet operators to trust.

Trust is not a small issue in trucking. Freight operators are not early adopters in the consumer-tech sense. They are skeptical for good reason. Their margins are thin and their routes are punishing. Their equipment, which requires a massive upfront investment, like the cost of a house, has to work in the rain, the heat, the cold and the dark, often on deadlines that leave little room for idealism or climate values. The promise of zero-emission trucking only becomes real when it fits the brutal rhythm of actual logistics.

That is why Daimler’s move matters beyond Germany. It arrives at a moment when the global shipping and trucking system looks increasingly exposed. Wars in and around the Middle East, Red Sea disruptions from Houthi pirates, bottlenecks at ports, and the continued vulnerability of the Strait of Hormuz all remind us that diesel is not just dirty. It is geopolitically fragile. A logistics system that can increasingly run on domestic electricity or locally produced hydrogen is not only cleaner. It is harder to destabilize. Saudi Aramco, the world’s richest company, and which controls endless oil reserves knows that the cost of oil can flatten in a minute once local hydrogen fuel production is figured out. That’s why they are investing in it too in Indonesia.

And yes, there is still a serious caveat. Hydrogen is only as green as the way it is made. If it comes from fossil gas without real carbon controls, the emissions story weakens quickly. The same is true of electric trucks charged from dirty grids. A zero-emission vehicle is only truly low-carbon if the energy behind it is also getting cleaner. But that does not make the transition less important. It makes the surrounding energy system more important too.

There is another reason the industry is moving this way, and it has less to do with climate than with safety. Daimler says the NextGenH2 will carry over the latest assistance systems from the eActros 600, including Active Brake Assist 6, Front Guard Assist and Active Sideguard Assist 2. These are not marketing flourishes. Heavy trucks remain among the most dangerous machines on public roads, and any serious upgrade in crash prevention matters. The more freight becomes software-defined, sensor-rich and digitally governed, the more it can move away from the old diesel model built around fatigue, blind spots and brute force.

Battery-electric trucks will likely dominate repeatable routes where charging is easy and economics are already starting to work. Hydrogen trucks will likely serve the heavier, longer and more demanding lanes where batteries still struggle in countries like Australia, Canada, and the US. In the future: Rail will matter more. Ports will become smarter. Road trains and platooning may return in digital form and freight itself will slowly become less about individual vehicles and more about coordinated systems like how airlines collaborate at airports around the world. Everyone has a space and a time for refueling, cleaning, loading, taxi-ing and take-off.

For now, Daimler’s NextGenH2 is not proof that hydrogen has won. It is proof that freight is finally getting more honest. The future was never going to be battery-only or hydrogen-only. The future is electric and hydrogen for shipping.

The post The future of trucking and freight is electric and hydrogen appeared first on Green Prophet.

When wars in Iran threaten oil routes, and Saudi Aramco jacks up prices because it can, the weakness of global freight becomes impossible to ignore. The latest tensions tied to Iran and the Strait of Hormuz have exposed, again, how fragile it is to move food, medicine, fuel, industrial goods and consumer products through a logistics system still built around diesel.

A single chokepoint can raise prices across continents. A single delay or boat of Houthi pirates attempting to blow up an oil tanker ripples from port to warehouse to supermarket shelf. The lesson is no longer abstract. Freight needs to become more electric, more local, more automated, more resilient and, above all, safer. And all that needs to be linked to battery storage microgrids and renewable energy produced close to home. My goal is to see the share price of Saudi Aramco sink.

The symbol most people recognize is the Tesla Semi, Tesla’s battery-electric Class 8 truck which we wrote about more than 5 years ago. Tesla says the Semi can travel up to 500 miles on a charge, use about 1.7 kWh per mile, and recover up to 70% of range in 30 minutes with its 1 MW charging system. Those are no longer vague concept-car numbers. They are logistics numbers that matter because freight does not need novelty: it needs predictable routes, lower operating costs, better energy security and fewer people dying on the road.

But Tesla is only one part of the story. The more interesting shift is that long-haul trucking is now splitting into two serious zero-emission paths: battery-electric for predictable corridors and depot-based logistics, and hydrogen fuel cell for longer ranges, faster refueling and heavier-duty freight where batteries may still be too limiting.

Why electric trucks are finally becoming real

Battery-electric trucks make the most sense where routes are repetitive and tightly managed: ports to warehouses, regional distribution centers, industrial parks, airport freight corridors and retail supply loops. These trucks can charge during planned dwell times, brake regeneratively in traffic and increasingly move as part of coordinated fleets rather than as isolated machines.

This is where Green Prophet’s old fascination with road trains starts to look less eccentric and more prescient. The old Australian road train was about linking trailers together for remote hauling. The new version is software-driven and possibly fueled by green hydrogen: platooned electric trucks traveling in synchronized formation to reduce aerodynamic drag, save energy and move freight more efficiently between hubs.

Research published in 2025 suggests electric truck platooning can reduce total operating costs when charging, routing and convoy formation are optimized together. That may sound technical, but it points to something simple: the next road train is not a dusty outback oddity. It is a digitally managed freight system.

Companies like Einride are already operating electric and autonomous freight systems in Europe and the United States. Volvo Trucks, Daimler Truck, PACCAR and others are all pushing battery-electric heavy-duty platforms into real-world operations. The market is still young, but it is no longer imaginary.

Where hydrogen enters the picture

If battery-electric trucks are best suited to fixed and repeatable corridors, hydrogen fuel cell trucks are being positioned for the stretches where battery weight, charging time and infrastructure become harder to manage. Think Canada, inner states in the US and Australia. Even wide parts of the Middle East desert where the price of oil costs less than water. This is where the argument gets serious.

Daimler Truck says its new Mercedes-Benz NextGenH2 Truck will enter small-series production from the end of 2026, with 100 trucks planned for customer operations. Daimler says the liquid hydrogen truck is designed for ranges well over 800 miles on a single fill and uses components shared with its battery-electric eActros 600, including safety systems and digital cockpit architecture. That matters because it suggests the future may not be electric or hydrogen, but electric and hydrogen depending on route logic.

That same dual-path logic is why truckmakers are hedging across both technologies. Nikola, despite its damaged reputation and corporate instability, has still pushed hydrogen fuel cell trucks into commercial trials. The technology itself should not be dismissed because one company handled it badly. Hydrogen trucks offer compelling advantages where time-sensitive freight, high utilization and diesel-like refueling rhythms still matter.

There is a catch, of course. Hydrogen is only as clean as the way it is made. If it comes from fossil gas without meaningful carbon capture, the climate case weakens. If it comes from renewable electrolysis, the case improves dramatically. The same critique applies to battery-electric trucks. They are only as green as the grid charging them. If fossil fuels are running the battery charging stations, the whole point becomes ridiculous. We need an all-systems effort here. But even when it’s not green, electric drivetrains and fuel cells shift freight away from combustion at the point of use, which is still a major health and air quality gain for the roads cities around them.

Why safety may be the strongest argument of all

This is not only a climate story. It is a safety story, and trucking badly needs one. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, there were about 503,000 police-reported crashes involving large trucks in the United States in 2022, including 5,279 fatal crashes. The agency also notes that 82% of fatalities in fatal large-truck crashes were not occupants of the large truck. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has repeatedly shown that large trucks create disproportionate danger for people in smaller vehicles.

That is the context in which electric and hydrogen trucks need to be judged. Not against some fantasy of perfect roads, but against the current freight system, which still depends too heavily on fatigue, weak oversight, inconsistent training and vehicles operating under deadline pressure.

Advanced safety systems are already proving useful. IIHS has reported that forward collision warning and automatic emergency braking reduce rear-end crash rates for large trucks. These are not distant future gains. They are available gains. Battery-electric and hydrogen trucks are both well positioned to integrate these systems more deeply because they are increasingly software-first platforms. Their cameras, sensors, telemetry, braking logic and route controls can be managed at fleet level rather than left to the limits of human judgment alone.

That is where the promise lies. A truck that is digitally supervised from depot to destination is harder to fake, easier to monitor and easier to discipline. Its speed, route, braking behavior, maintenance events and charging or fueling cycles can all be tracked. It is not a moral solution to human failure, but it is a technical one, and freight needs more of that.

The dirty secret of freight is not just diesel

There is another reason the trucking sector is ripe for change: too much of it is held together with bad labor conditions, training shortcuts and dangerous corner-cutting. Canada has become a cautionary example. Ontario authorities suspended truckers’ licences after uncovering dishonest testing and training practices, according to TruckNews. Alberta also shut down unsafe truck driver training schools and targeted carriers linked to poor safety practices, again reported by TruckNews. A few years ago, a trucker from India killed an entire hockey team when he was driving on a suspended license from infractions. He should not have been on the road. But lack of government oversight with unsustainable immigration goals have put Canadian roads at risk. Make it electric!

This is where the public conversation often goes off the rails. The issue is not “foreign drivers” as a lazy culture-war talking point. The issue is licensing integrity, labor exploitation, poor oversight and freight systems that reward cost-cutting until people die. If electric and hydrogen trucks are managed through better software, better route discipline and better oversight, they can help reduce those failure points. They will not erase human corruption, but they can make dangerous operations more visible and easier to regulate.

The next road train may move at night

One of the least discussed advantages of electric and hydrogen freight is when it can move. The future of long-haul logistics is not just about propulsion. It is about timing of the drive.

Night freight may become one of the biggest advantages of automated and electrified trucking. Roads are less congested at night. Temperatures are lower. Delivery windows are easier to manage. Noise is lower with electric drivetrains. Human fatigue has always made night trucking dangerous, but digitally managed freight corridors, better sensors, automatic braking and lane support change that equation. A future fleet of trucks moving quietly between depots after midnight may turn out to be one of the safest ways to keep cities and supply chains functioning.

This is also where autonomy enters the picture. Companies like Aurora are already running driverless freight routes in Texas and have expanded their network as confidence in the systems grows. That does not mean human drivers disappear tomorrow, and it certainly does not mean the technology is risk-free. But it does suggest that the future freight vehicle may be less like a cowboy truck and more like a rolling logistics node, with the human gradually shifting from driver to supervisor.

The Middle East should care more than most

For the Gulf and other regions exposed to oil-route instability, this transition is not just environmental. It is strategic. Green Prophet recently reported how Etihad Rail is using solar power at a freight terminal, a small but important signal that logistics is beginning to decouple from diesel. Rail, electric trucking, hydrogen corridors and distributed renewable energy can begin to work together as one freight architecture.

That is the real post-oil freight future. Not a single silver bullet, but a layered system: electric trucks on predictable routes, hydrogen trucks on heavier and longer hauls, autonomous convoying where it makes sense, rail where possible, and maybe even tunnels where cities become too congested to keep pretending surface freight is enough.

That last idea sounds absurd until you look at what Elon Musk’s Boring Company is trying to do. Green Prophet recently covered its proposed Dubai Loop. Most of the discussion focuses on passenger transport, but the freight implications may be more important. Underground logistics corridors for high-value goods, airport freight, port distribution and urban delivery are no longer science fiction. They are expensive, yes, but so are crashes, congestion, diesel pollution, road wear and lost time.

What could go wrong

There are real pitfalls and they should not be brushed aside.

Charging infrastructure is still thin for heavy trucks. Hydrogen refueling infrastructure is even thinner. Grid readiness is uneven. Green hydrogen is still expensive. Battery weight remains a payload issue. Autonomous regulation is inconsistent across jurisdictions. Public trust can collapse after a single bad crash.

And then there are jobs. Better electric and hydrogen logistics will almost certainly mean fewer traditional long-haul driving jobs over time, especially on repetitive corridor freight. Some of those jobs will shift into fleet management, charging and fueling infrastructure, maintenance, software operations and remote supervision. Some will not. Governments and unions should be preparing for that reality now, not pretending it will sort itself out.

The real promise

The real promise of electric and hydrogen long-haul trucks is not that they are trendy. It is that they make freight less stupid.

They offer a path away from a system built on diesel dependency, poor air quality, avoidable crashes, labor strain and geopolitical fragility. They will not replace every truck overnight. They do not need to. Freight changes corridor by corridor, depot by depot, terminal by terminal. That is how this transition will happen too.

The old diesel model gave us pollution, fatigue, noise, vulnerability and too many deaths on the road. The next freight era should be quieter, cleaner, more disciplined and harder to destabilize. Battery-electric and hydrogen trucks are not a fantasy anymore. They are beginning to look like the most practical answer we have.

The post Electric and hydrogen long-haul trucks are finally leaving the prototype era appeared first on Green Prophet.

The global energy transition isn’t only about solar panels, electrolyzers, or the glamorous green-hydrogen whispers in Dubai conference halls. The revolutions come from the places the public hasn’t heard about, like an industrial campus outside Salt Lake City, where a company called Torus just secured $200 million to build a different kind of battery future.

Years ago when I interviewed the late David Anthony from 21Ventures, he told me his secrets to deal finding: hang out in laboratories and find the innovation before it gets to the tech transfer office. (Tech transfer offices have already done the due diligence and you’ll find deals there too, but they are no longer secret).

This story here isn’t lithium mining in the Andes or sodium-ion chemistry in Shanghai. This is physics, spooling at thousands of revolutions per minute and it started at a company called Torus.

Torus combines flywheels — ancient devices (think pottery kick wheel) that store energy mechanically by spinning at high speed — with traditional batteries. The result is a hybrid system that can absorb and release power instantly, smoothing the chaos of electrons on a stressed electrical grid. A flywheel is like a spinning prayer wheel for the grid, storing kinetic intention, and releasing it stably when everything around it shakes.

In engineering-speak: “A flywheel comprises a rotating mass that stores kinetic energy. When charging, a torque applied in the direction of rotation accelerates the rotor, increasing its speed and stored energy,” explains Sandia National Laboratory. “When discharging, a braking torque decelerates the rotor, extracting energy while performing useful work.”

Flywheels are already powering parts of modern life. In big cities like London and Philadelphia, transit systems use flywheels to capture braking energy from trains and feed it back into the grid. In data centers at Microsoft and major telecom hubs, flywheel UPS units provide instant backup power before generators kick in.

Utilities from New York to Ontario use flywheel farms to stabilize the grid when wind and solar fluctuate. In space, satellites use flywheel “reaction wheels” to orient themselves without fuel. Even race cars like Porsche hybrids have used flywheels for rapid energy recovery and boost. This is proven tech, now scaling to the grid.

Why the world needs a stable grid?

AI and token-mining data centers are consuming city-scale power. The US grid is aging making it difficult to absorb new energy sources even when they become relevant. Extreme heat and cold events are becoming the new normal. And these factors influence whether or not the heating will go in Texas or Canada in the winter.

Torus’ new financing, led by Chicago-based Magnetar Capital, will scale a Utah manufacturing facility called GigaOne and push capacity beyond 1 gigawatt of storage within three years. Letters of intent are already on the table from PacifiCorp and Portland General Electric, both utilities managing real-world wildfire risk, winter storms, and transformer-meltdown summers.

Michael Cooper, our trusted in-house investment researcher from 36North says that Warren Buffet is the model for all investment students of the world to follow. So this latest round and interest in Torus by PacifiCorp caught his attention.

“As an investor, I am most excited by the potentially lower risk environment whereby industry is combining disciplines and technologies from physics to chemistry to build products and solutions. This stage is more rewarding than exploring theoretical physics or pure chemistry,” he says.

Though still private, Torus has already attracted major utility interest, including letters of intent from PacifiCorp and Portland General Electric—early signals that its technology is transitioning from promising pilot to grid-relevant infrastructure. Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffett’s conglomerate) via its subsidiary Berkshire Hathaway Energy (formerly MidAmerican Energy Holdings) owns PacifiCorp.

In a blog post on September 9, Torus CEO and co-founder Nate Walkingshaw described the company’s “modular power plant” technology in somewhat flowing terms, though the basic point is the key point. Flywheels are more responsive than conventional batteries, and batteries support the duration factor.

“The magical combination of  flywheels, batteries, chipsets and cyber security appliances allows us to respond in milliseconds, and stay online with 99.9% uptime,” Walkingshaw said. “This year we have been deployed by our utility partners  nearly every day to assist them with frequency and voltage support plus assisting our customers with peak shaving, emergency back-up and power quality concerns,” he added.

Lithium batteries are miracles we use every day and they are in our phones, laptops, Teslas. But lithium alone isn’t enough to stabilize a renewable grid. Batteries degrade. But flywheels don’t degrade the same way. They don’t catch fire. They don’t care if it’s −20°C or +50°C. They can discharge and recharge millions of times.

This isn’t a moonshot investment but one that Warren Buffett could get behind. Torus already runs a 400-MW manufacturing facility and it has purchase orders in the pipeline and has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Rocky Mountain Power (a division of PacifiCorp) to deploy up to 70 MW of its hybrid flywheel + battery storage solutions in Utah, Wyoming and Idaho.

“This partnership highlights our commitment to exploring new technologies and optimizing infrastructure as we work to meet the energy demands and challenges over the next decade,” said Dick Garlish, President of Rocky Mountain Power.

How flywheels work to store free energy

The opportunity is enabled through Rocky Mountain Power’s industry leading virtual power plan, specifically the Wattsmart Battery program. The partnership will deploy Torus’s cutting-edge Nova Spin and Nova Pulse technologies across multiple sites. These innovations allow for real-time response and deliver twice the lifespan of traditional batteries.

“Working with Rocky Mountain Power at this scale demonstrates the growing recognition of demand response as a crucial tool for modern utilities,” said Walkingshaw. “As Utah attracts more data centers, manufacturing facilities, and technology companies, reliable and affordable energy becomes even more critical. Our technology improves grid resilience and efficiency while supporting Utah’s vision for energy abundance that will power the next generation of economic growth.”

The story here isn’t that flywheels will replace lithium batteries but that the energy future will be stacked, layered, and hybrid.

Torus Inc., based in South Salt Lake City, Utah, was co-founded in 2021 by systems-engineer-turned-entrepreneur Nate Walkingshaw and energy technologist Gilbert Lee, with a vision to build a grid-storage platform that blends the physics reliability of flywheels with the flexibility of batteries.

The company has grown to roughly 70 employees as it scales its “GigaOne” manufacturing campus and deploys hybrid storage systems for utilities and data centers. Torus recently secured $200 million in growth capital from Magnetar Capital to boost production capacity beyond 1 GW within three years, following earlier funding that valued the company at approximately $535 million.

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Saudi Arabia: Oil Dependency Under Threat

Biggest Risks and Problems: Saudi Arabia, heavily reliant on oil revenues, faces the dual challenge of declining oil prices due to shifts towards renewable energy and the inflationary pressures driving up costs domestically. The country’s economy is vulnerable to the volatility of global oil markets and the increasing frequency of extreme weather events, such as heatwaves and dust storms.

Possible Solutions: Diversification of the economy away from oil, investment in renewable energy sources like solar power, and implementing sustainable water management strategies to mitigate the impacts of climate change. It is trying through its investment in alternative areas of energy (hydrogen – see ACWA) and tourism (Neom) to bring Saudi into the 21st century.

United Arab Emirates: Vulnerability of Coastal Infrastructure

Biggest Risks and Problems: As a nation with a significant portion of its population and infrastructure located along the coast, the UAE is particularly susceptible to rising sea levels and extreme weather events. Inflationary pressures further strain the government’s ability to invest in climate adaptation measures and infrastructure resilience.

Possible Solutions: Investment in coastal protection measures, sustainable urban planning to mitigate flooding risks, and incentivizing businesses to adopt eco-friendly practices. Invest in ecological waste removal for building projects – see Burj. See: Burj built without thinking where the poop will go. The UAE has also been investing in sustainable aviation fuels (SAF).

Qatar: Water Scarcity and Agricultural Challenges

Biggest Risks and Problems: Qatar’s arid climate and limited freshwater resources make it highly vulnerable to water scarcity, exacerbated by climate change. Inflation compounds the challenges faced by the agricultural sector, which relies heavily on imported food due to limited domestic production capacity.

Possible Solutions: Implementation of water conservation measures, investment in desalination technology, and promotion of drought-resistant crops to enhance food security. See Doha’s agriculture convention.

Kuwait: Energy Intensive Economy at Risk

Biggest Risks and Problems: Kuwait’s energy-intensive industries, including oil refining and petrochemicals, contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and environmental degradation. Inflationary pressures drive up production costs, posing challenges to the country’s economic competitiveness in the global market.

Possible Solutions: Transitioning towards renewable energy sources, improving energy efficiency in industrial processes, and diversifying the economy to reduce dependence on oil revenues.

Iran: Environmental Degradation and Socioeconomic Impacts

Biggest Risks and Problems: Iran faces a multitude of environmental challenges, including air and water pollution, deforestation, and soil degradation. Climate change exacerbates these issues, leading to adverse effects on public health and exacerbating social inequalities. Inflation further strains government resources, hindering efforts to address environmental degradation. Women’s rights and an Islamic regime makes it impossible for environmental voices to speak. Those that try are killed or put in jail.

Possible Solutions: Strengthening environmental regulations and enforcement, investing in clean energy technologies, and promoting sustainable agriculture practices to mitigate the impacts of climate change and inflation. Strenthening women’s rights and freedom of expression.

Climateflation presents a complex and multifaceted challenge for Middle Eastern economies, requiring concerted efforts from governments, businesses, and civil society to address effectively. By prioritizing sustainable development, investing in climate adaptation measures, and diversifying their economies, countries in the region can navigate the dual threats of climate change and inflation while ensuring long-term prosperity and resilience.

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Summers are growing hotter, storms more violent, wildfires more frequent and ocean levels are rising. It is becoming increasingly obvious that burning fossil fuels containing millions of years worth of trapped carbon is altering our atmosphere and climate.

Hydrogen is a promising alternative to fossil fuels. It’s abundant, clean burning and has a high mass energy density. With modification it can be used in heating, vehicle engines or fuel-cells as a replacement for carbon-based fuels such as natural gas (CH4) gasoline (C8H18) or diesel fuel (C12H23).

Hydrogen doesn’t have the long-term environmental flaws of fossil fuels. But it is not yet a simple replacement for hydrocarbons. Extracting  green or grey hydrogen takes a considerable amount of energy and geologic hydrogen hasn’t yet been found in commercial quantities.

Hydrogen also has a low volumetric energy density. This means even though one kilogram of hydrogen can provide two to three times the energy of one kilogram of diesel fuel, at standard atmospheric pressure a hydrogen fuel tank requires about 5000 times the volume of a diesel fuel tank in order to provide the same energy and range.

Pressurizing the hydrogen to about 10,000 pounds per square inch improves this so that hydrogen only requires about 7 times the volume of diesel fuel. This pressure is almost twice as high as that which imploded the Titan submersible underwater earlier this year while hunting for the Titantic wreckage.

So while hydrogen is a promising fuel, storage and transport is challenging. If only we could efficiently generate hydrogen near where it is used. A Canadian research team may have the answer in aluminium. 

It takes up to 63 kilowatt-hours to extract one kilogram of aluminium from its bauxite ore. Much of that energy remains trapped in the chemistry of Aluminium in the same way coal and gasoline trap the energy of ancient sunlight.  In fact burning aluminium produces almost twice the energy of burning an equivalent mass of coal.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the energy embedded in a single soda can could power a 14 watt light bulb for 60 hours or a television for two hours. By tuning the particle size and chemistry, the energy embedded in this metal can be used to extract hydrogen from water.

Reza Kholghy, PhD, is research chair in Particle Technology and Combustion Engineering at Carlton University in Ottawa Canada. Dr. Kholghy was kind enough to provide Green Prophet with some insight on this promising new technology.

GreenProphet (GP): How do you use aluminium to produce hydrogen? 

Dr. Kholghy: Aluminium powder is mixed with water and combusts through a high temperature oxidation process. This way, Aluminium takes the oxygen molecule in water and turns into alumina (aluminium oxide) and releases the hydrogen in water molecules.

GP: What is the efficiency compared to other methods of recycling Aluminium?

Dr. Kholghy: This is not a method to recycle aluminium. By combusting it with water, we can get 100% yield, meaning that all of the aluminium will be converted to alumina and for every kg of Aluminium, roughly 1 kg of water is consumed releasing around 111 gr of hydrogen. 

GP: What is the volume and mass energy density compared to hydrogen fuel cell technology?

Dr. Kholghy: The reactor is very compact, a 2 MW reactors only need a footprint of around 300 to 400 sq sq ft and cogenerate heat, hydrogen and alumina. 

GP: Why weren’t we doing this 100 years ago?

Dr. Kholghy: This reaction has been used in a variety of application including green rocket propellant where Aluminium nanoparticles are used. However, the unique feature of our work is finding a way to burn large Aluminium particles 

GP: What is the best scale for an Aluminium hydrogen generator? (car, house, utility…)

Dr. Kholghy: Utility, from 1 MegaWatt and higher. 

GP: What would you tell someone who is sceptical?

Dr. Kholghy: This is just a pice of puzzle towards transitioning to zero carbon energy production. This technology offers off grid solutions for cogeneration of heat, hydrogen as well as valuable high purity alumina that is used in batteries. 

GP: Are you working with other researchers or corporations?

Dr. Kholghy: We are working with a Company called GH Power to develop this technology. 

GP: What is the next step?

Dr. Kholghy: Our industrial partner is working with us to demonstrate the full scale reactor. 

GP: How are impurities removed?

Dr. Kholghy: For hydrogen generation, there is no need to remove impurities. We get similar hydrogen yield no matter if recycled Aluminium with low purity or high purity Aluminium is used. The purity of alumina is similar to the purity of the Aluminium fuel used and we have developed a proprietary process to remove impurities from the produced alumina if needed. 

The post Can aluminum ignite the hydrogen economy? appeared first on Green Prophet.

Researchers from Tel Aviv University have succeeded in producing “green” hydrogen using green electricity — The hydrogen is produced without air pollution, with a high level of efficiency, utilizing a biocatalyst. Hydrogen is a necessary raw material for both agriculture and industry, but 95% of the hydrogen produced in the world today is “black” or “gray” — produced from coal or natural gas and emitting 9 to 12 tons of carbon dioxide for every ton of hydrogen.

For a primer read our history of hydrogen for fuel.

The new method was developed by doctoral student Itzhak Grinberg and Oren Ben-Zvi, under the guidance of Prof. Iftach Yacoby and Prof. Lihi Adler-Abramovich. The promising research results were published in the journal Carbon Energy, focusing on advanced materials and technology for clean energy and CO₂ emission reduction.

“Hydrogen is very rare in the atmosphere,” explains Itzhak Grinberg, “although it is produced by enzymes in microscopic organisms, which receive the energy for this from photosynthesis processes. In the lab, we “electrify” those enzymes, that is, an electrode provides the energy instead of the sun.

“The result is a particularly efficient process, with no demand for extreme conditions, that can utilize electricity from renewable sources such as solar panels or wind turbine. However, the enzyme ‘runs away’ from the electric charge, so it needs to be held in place through chemical treatment. We found a simple and efficient way to attach the enzyme to the electrode and utilize it.”

The world has seen 5 breakthroughs in hydrogen. Read about them here.

5 hydrogen storage and energy breakthroughs

The researchers used a hydrogel (a water-based gel) to attach the enzyme to the electrode, and were able to produce green hydrogen using a biocatalyst, and with over 90 percent efficiency; that is, over 90 percent of the electrons introduced into the system were deposited in the hydrogen without any secondary processes.

Prof. Iftach Yacoby explains that, “The material of the gel itself is known, but our innovation is to use it to produce hydrogen. We soaked the electrode in the gel, which contained an enzyme for producing hydrogen, called hydrogenase. The gel holds the enzyme for a long time, even under the electric voltage, and makes it possible to produce hydrogen with great efficiency and at environmental conditions favorable to the enzyme — for example, in salt water, in contrast to electrolysis, which requires distilled water.

Prof. Lihi Adler-Abramovich adds: “Another advantage is that the gel assembles itself — you put the material in water, and it settles into nanometric fibers that form the gel. We demonstrated that these fibers are also able to stick the enzyme to the electrode. We tested the gel with two other enzymes, in addition to the hydrogenase, and proved that it was able to attach different enzymes to the electrode.”

Today, ‘green’ hydrogen is produced primarily through electrolysis, which requires precious and rare metals such as platinum along with water distillation, which makes the green hydrogen up to 15 times more expensive than the polluting ‘grey’ one.

Oren Ben-Zvi adds: “We hope that in the future, it will be possible to employ our method commercially, to lower the costs, and to make the switch towards using green hydrogen in industry, agriculture, and as a clean energy source.”

#energystorage, #green, #innovation, #renewableenergy, #sustainability

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Sonol, a company that operates regular petroleum-based fuel stations in Israel, has opened the country’s first hydrogen fuel station in the Haifa Bay. The world is seeing more and more hydrogen energy breakthroughs and countries nearby like Saudi Arabia are investing in hydrogen fuel.

Sonol is Israel’s third largest gas station chain. Israel’s Ministry of Energy identified a fuel port near Haifa as one of its economic development projects in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Sonol won this tender and worked with Germany’s H2 Mobility on this project. Sonol has also collaborated with Bazam petrochemical refining and the vehicle dealer Colmobile to bring hydrogen powered trucks to this port city.

The Hydrogen station is built close to northern Israel’s Kibbutz Yagur, six miles from the Bazan oil refineries at Haifa Bay. The same Sonol station offers regular fuel pumps and recharging stations for electric cars. It will soon start producing solar energy on the roof to be self-sufficient for its maintenance needs. 

The estimated $3.3 million hydrogen project is a partnership between Sonol, Bazan, a hydrogen manufacturer and and car importer Colmobil, which has supplied the first three hydrogen trucks.

The transportation sector is responsible for about 20% of Israel’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Advantages of hydrogen fuel

As transport fuel, hydrogen has several advantages compared to traditional fossil fuels and electric batteries. Its mass energy density is extremely high which is why it is used to power fuel cells in spacecraft. When it is burned, it produces only water vapor with virtually no harmful air pollution and no carbon dioxide. It can be produced from water using green energy sources or found in natural geological deposits. This makes it an excellent fuel to combat climate change.

Filling is faster than charging: The time required to fill fuel tanks for Hydrogen fuel cells is much shorter than the time required to charge batteries 

Hydrogen’s volume density is relatively low which means it needs a large fuel tank compared to gasoline or diesel fuel. This is why some of the earliest adoption of hydrogen as a transport fuel will be in large commercial vehicles such as the Hyundai Xcient trucks which will be fuelled at the Haifa port. This Hydrogen station will help Israel keep up with other nations in the adoption of this promising new fuel.

Hyundai enters the hydrogen market in the Middle East

Hyundai is bringing its hydrogen fuel cell truck Xcient to Israel, its first market in the Middle East. The aim is to form a hydrogen value chain in Israel. Hyundai’s plan align with Israel’s target to slash national greenhouse gas emissions by 27 per cent by 2030 and by 85 per cent by 2050, relative to 2015 emission levels.

“We are thrilled to support the Israel government’s strong commitment to building a sustainable future,” said Mark Freymueller, a VP at Hyundai. “Establishing the first hydrogen infrastructure in Israel in close collaboration with the country’s key players marks a significant milestone in our efforts to build a sustainable hydrogen value chain around the world.”

Haifa Bay is notoriously polluted. Israel energy and chemical infrastructure for industry operates in this area side-by-side with a growing residential city. We met recently with Ecoocean’s Andreas Weil, who founded Israel’s most influential marine protection NGO. He wonders why in most developed nations such ports are kept far from cities but in Israel they sit side-by-side. Development in more ecological areas is good but maybe it’s time to start moving fuel operations further away from city centers. 

Karin Kloosterman contributed to this report

Have an energy innovation to share with us? Email dreamcatchers@greenprophet.com

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The industrial sector is one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases. The decarbonization of industry is therefore a major challenge in the fight against climate change. It consists of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by reducing fossil fuel consumption and using renewable energies. Here are the essentials on the subject.

The concept of decarbonization of industry

Decarbonization of industry is a relatively new concept. It refers to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from industrial activities. This reduction can be achieved by using cleaner technologies and by improving the energy efficiency of industrial processes.

Greenhouse gas emissions from industry account for about one third of total emissions worldwide. The main sources of this pollution appear to be the power generation, building heating and cooling, transportation and industrial sectors. Actors in these areas can refer to alternatives such as those presented on the decarbonization platform.

However, decarbonization of industry remains a complex challenge, as emissions are linked to specific industrial processes. Steel and cement production, for example, require tailor-made solutions.

The challenges of decarbonizing industry

The decarbonization of industry is essential to meet the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to less than two degrees Celsius. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is crucial to maintaining a viable and sustainable environment.

The decarbonization of industry also has economic benefits. Indeed, it can promote innovation and job creation in the renewable energy sector such as hydrogen. In addition, reducing fossil fuel consumption will reduce dependence on energy imports and improve the competitiveness of companies.

In addition, decarbonization of the industry can improve the brand image of companies and strengthen their commitment to sustainability. This is an asset for attracting new environmentally conscious customers. Specific measures have been put in place over the years to decarbonize large industries.

Solutions for decarbonizing industry

There are several solutions to decarbonize industry. First, the energy efficiency of industrial processes must be improved. This can be achieved by using cleaner technologies and optimizing production methods. For example, companies can install heat pumps and recovery equipment to reuse the heat produced by industrial processes. They can also use sensors to monitor energy consumption and improve machine efficiency.

Second, it is important to promote the use of renewable energy in industry. Alternatives such as solar, wind, hydro, hydrogen and geothermal energy can provide a clean, renewable energy source for industry. Companies can install solar panels or wind turbines at their production sites to generate their own energy. They can also purchase renewable energy from green electricity providers.

Finally, carbon capture and storage technologies can be used to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from industrial processes. This technology allows CO2 emissions from industrial processes to be captured and stored in underground reservoirs or used for energy production. This method is further developed by technology. Innovations in CO2 emission transformation are being carried out over the years by scientists and researchers in order to preserve the earth and human nature.

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Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. It is also a powerful zero-carbon fuel with an energy density of 5.5 kilowatt-hours per kilogram (kWh/kg). This is more than two and a half times the energy density of gasoline and eighteen times the energy density of the 0.296 kWh/kg 4680 battery used in the Tesla Model S.

Hydrogen is used for space travel and other specialized applications but it has not yet replaced fossil fuels in electricity generation, consumer or freight transportation. That may be about to change thanks to these breakthroughs in hydrogen technology.

1. Green Hydrogen

When hydrogen is burned in the presence of Oxygen, it doesn’t produce carbon dioxide (CO2) it only produces water (H2O) and small amounts of the chemicals produced by heating air. But the processes for generating hydrogen consumes energy and that energy can come from sources which produce CO2. Hydrogen is a colorless gas but engineers developed a nine color code to track environmental factors in the production of hydrogen. For example, when coal is used to produce hydrogen, it is known as Black or Brown hydrogen. Natural gas is used to produce Gray hydrogen with the steam-methane reformation process which released CO2 into the atmosphere. Burning black, brown or gray hydrogen appears to be carbon neutral but the overall process contributes to air pollution and climate change.

Blue hydrogen also uses natural gas (mostly methane) but the process is designed to capture and sequester the CO2 byproduct for storage or industrial purposes. 

Green hydrogen goes one step further by producing hydrogen from solar, wind and other energy technologies which do not contribute to climate change. 

Who is working with green hydrogen?

With abundant gas reserves and good climate for solar electrolysis, mideast countries are particularly well-placed for cost-effective green hydrogen production and job creation. Saudia Arabia’s NEOM development is working to produce the world’s largest green hydrogen production utility. 

Oman is also competing in this market with signed contracts for six green projects and a production target of more than one million tons of green hydrogen per year. The war in Ukraine has also forced the European Union to rethink energy dependency as part of regional defence and security. Hydrogen terminals and pipelines are being built and expanded to take advantage of imports from the Mideast and Canada. As Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau puts it: “The enhanced action plan on hydrogen will mobilize investment, support businesses, share expertise and get clean Canadian hydrogen to Europe… Fundamentally, it’s about good middle-class jobs, economic growth and clean energy.”

2. Hydrogen for mimicking photosynthesis

Photovoltaic (PV) electrolysis is not particularly efficient in using sunlight to extract hydrogen from water. The best PV cells are only about 15% efficient and electrolysis is only about 70% efficient. And when the panels are dusty, knock that down even more. Together their total efficiency is only about 10.5%.

Plants do much better but their process is complicated. Reading over my daughter’s shoulder while she was studying biology, I learned something about light-harvesting complex, dyads, ATP, antenna proteins. In my day it was simple, chlorophyll made plants green and turned sunlight, CO2 and water into vegetables our mom made us eat!

On a very high level, light is a form of electromagnetic energy like radio waves. For efficient capture of that energy we need antennas that are a small integer ratio to the wavelength. You may have noticed that the antenna in your 1980s mobile phone was shorter than the ones in your walkie talkie. CB and HAM radio buffs used to tune antenna lengths with a Standing Wave Ratio (SWR) meter. In the early days of television people did something similar with bits of aluminum foil wrapped around TV antennas.

But light has a very short wavelength. The sunlight that filters through our atmosphere has a wavelength of about 400-700 billionths of a meter (nanometer). Because this is a wide range of wavelengths, we need a range of different antenna sizes. Not to worry (says whoever invented photosynthesis) layers of different pigments capture different parts of the spectrum.

No one will ever know this little secret until autumn when the green chlorophyll fades and some of the the other colors are revealed. My explanation may be an oversimplification but our best PV solar cells are not nearly as complex or efficient as the photosynthesis in the broccoli mom made us eat. It’s like comparing a stone tool to the International Space Station. 

But we have to start somewhere and scientists at the University of Michigan took a step in the right direction by mimicking photosynthesis. They used a window-sized lens to focus sunlight onto a panel containing an indium gallium nitride nanostructure catalyst covered with water that was soon bubbling with hydrogen and oxygen gasses with an efficiency of 6.1% indoors and 9% outdoors. This doesn’t beat the efficiency of our best PV electrolysis systems, but it’s a start.

3. Geologic Hydrogen

We discussed this in a recent Green Prophet article about natural hydrogen. The idea is that instead of trying to find green energy to extract hydrogen from water, we search for deposits of hydrogen gas in the same way we search for fossil fuels. Geologic hydrogen is a hot topic in recent weeks because if we find large deposits of hydrogen, it really could be a game changer. At the very least it could serve as a transition fuel to help us phase out fossil fuels before their environmental damage overwhelms us.

4. Hydrogen Fusion

Two isotopes of hydrogen are used in the most common fusion reaction. These are Deuterium and Tritium. Chemically each of these behave very much like ordinary hydrogen which has one proton and one electron but Deuterium also has one neutron and Tritium has two neutrons. These isotopes are relatively rare but the energy released by a fusion reaction is hard to ignore. We already mentioned that the energy density of hydrogen when it is chemically burned in air is about 5.5 kilowatt-hours per kilogram.

But the nuclear fusion reaction between Deuterium and Tritium isotopes can produce 94 trillion kilowatt-hours per kilogram. This is 17 trillion times the energy density of gasoline. The catch is that fusion is difficult. Harnessing this energy isn’t as easy as dumping some rubbish into a device like “Mr. Fusion” in the film “Back to the Future.”

It’s even more difficult than trying to harness the energy in a bolt of lightning. But scientists are working on this from two different angles, magnetic confinement and laser confinement. Both have demonstrated net energy gain but not yet at a level that is commercially practical.

5. Hydrogen Airships

It must have seemed the perfect form of transportation. Dirigibles were luxurious and majestic. School teachers told us what it was like to watch these massive inventions cast shadows across midwestern cornfields. They took the comforts of a passenger cruise ship and sailed among the clouds. The Hindenberg even had a piano lounge.

No form of transportation is perfectly safe and these airships were no exception. Seventy-three people died when the USS Akron crashed into the ocean and 48 died on the R-101. But the Hindenberg exploded on land in daylight with thousands of spectators, photographers and NBC radio broadcaster Herbert Morrison whose famous words “Oh the humanity!” would signal the end of this airship era..

This too may change as we face the true costs of jet aircraft travel. A round-trip transatlantic flight releases about two tons of CO2 per passenger, comparable to the annual carbon footprint of an average person living in Jordan.

One of the disadvantages of airships was that they flew low and slow in a part of the atmosphere prone to gusty winds, turbulence and lightning. When Hughs and other companies took jet aircraft into the stratosphere above the weather, modern flight was transformed. There is no reason why an airship should be confined to the turbulent lower atmosphere. The spy balloons that were in US news in recent weeks launched from China over Canada and the US flew at 60,000 feet, almost twice the cruising altitude of commercial aircraft. 

But hydrogen isn’t just for spy balloons. The developers of an airship called the h2 clipper plan to take advantage of the economic advantages of hydrogen airships in cargo transport. Hydrogen will be used for both lift and power and if it is green hydrogen, it will truly be a zero carbon aircraft. Loz Blain explains in New Atlas:

“We’re talking cargo loads up to 340,000 lb (150,000 kg – or the equivalent of about 115 Toyota Corollas), distances up to 6,000 miles (9,650 km, or roughly the distance between Los Angeles and Barcelona), at cruising speeds over 175 mph (280 km/h, or a little under one-third the speed of a Dreamliner passenger plane – but 7-10 times faster than a cargo ship can go).”

On paper it sounds good, jet aircraft are expensive, carbon-heavy energy hogs and these airships are beautiful. H2-Clipper won the prestigious hydrogen transport innovation awards in 2023. The company has tested models in wind-tunnels and has plans for a prototype by 2025 and a full-size production airship by 2028.

Oceansky’s airship is smaller but it may be perfect for the luxury class. Who wouldn’t want to fly over the north pole on something like this?

These are just five recent breakthroughs in hydrogen technology. However you look at it, it seems that the future is bright for Hydrogen!

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Hydrogen is plentiful as an energy source. If you’ve seen BMW’s bet on hydrogen cars leaving a trail of only water emissions behind, you might be very excited. But extracting energy from hydrogen, until recently, has been very hard. And processes along the way, like containing leaks, cannot be overlooked because if they are, hydrogen is not a better source of power than oil or gas, it could be worse. 

So as important as rallying for the cause and jumping into investments and spreading the good news of new projects in America and Oman, it’s important for investors, governments and energy stakeholders to be educated about the challenges of hydrogen along with the promise and potential.

A short train ride from Cologne or Dusseldorf, the first international NRW HY Summit 2022 will take place in Duisburg and Essen in the North Rhine-Westphalia state of Germany from November 8th to 10th. Attendants can immerse themselves in the world of hydrogen onsite as well as virtually and learn everything about the future of the planet’s smallest element. 

Hydrogen can be used to power vehicles, generate electricity, power the industry and heat our homes and businesses. It could make a huge difference in our carbon emissions and will be critical to achieving net zero. With climate leaders meeting around the same time for COP27 in Egypt, show your company’s commitment to a CO2-free future. This event is for you if you are living the startup dream in shades of hydrogen. 

So how do you start building new companies, investment portfolios and projects? Making it real in the investment heart of Europe, in the NRW province of Germany, is the aim for its November energy summit and startup conference.

Business and investment arms of the NRW government and its partners are organizing a 3-day conference on hydrogen as a business opportunity and a way for our planet to achieve net-zero goals facing a climate in crisis. Consider that NRW is home to the entire hydrogen chain: plants that generate green hydrogen from green electricity, and pipelines that transport the gas across the country. The event will include networking with the state prime minister and key investment leaders. 

Taking NRW’s experiences into account, attendants can be expected to meet high-level participants who can share real-world experiences in infrastructure, production and R&D. The state will include tips on how young companies can get started in NRW, with incentives and investments in hydrogen and new energy ventures. 

Meet H2UB, the European platform for hydrogen start-ups and innovative Projects of start-ups, corporates and science.

Why Hydrogen and Germany’s NRW wants you!

Everyone knows Germany is the world’s most serious country regarding meeting and exceeding renewable energy goals. Germany’s words matched with its ambitious and reliable workforce make it a great country in Europe to partner with. Hydrogen will help Germany’s ambitious goal of a CO2-neutral future. If it works, this will be an example to the world. 

Particularly in the industrial state of NRW, the need for alternatives to fossil fuels is great. Hydrogen is becoming important for the region and therefore offers investors and companies enormous growth potential in a stable economy, with the Euro now on par with the USD. 

NRW is already a top location for hydrogen and fuel technologies. Experts estimate that up to 130,000 new jobs could be created in connection with hydrogen. And this is happening in all areas of the value chain: research, production, mobility and application. 

To ramp up the market for hydrogen products and applications, innovation is needed at every stage of the value chain, a team from NRW’s business unit tells me. NRW.Global Business says that NRW, as a state supports start-ups from the hydrogen economy, so they will play a significant part in the hydrogen market.

Who should attend the HY summit?

International hydrogen companies

Government stakeholders

Startups looking for operations and ecosystems 

Who to meet?

Meet 50 speakers, including Hendrik Wüst, the Prime Minister of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, and Mona Neubaur, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Economics, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia

Panel discussions, high-ranking representatives from business and research discuss the value chain of the hydrogen economy.

More about NRW.Global Business, event partner

NRW.Global Business conducts international location marketing for Germany’s No. 1 investment location, North Rhine-Westphalia, and promotes foreign direct investment worldwide. Some 20,000 foreign companies are already based in Germany’s economically strongest federal state. They analyze investment plans, identify suitable locations and accompany an investment project from the first step to a successful settlement.

::HY Summit 

#nrwglobalbusiness

#hydrogen

#netzero

#climate

#NRW

#Germany

#renewableenergy

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