Motto: “Economics is the science of limited resources”

Lionel Robbins, British economist

introduction

Based on the essence of the introductory motto, let’s understand usefulness and priorities the use of energy resources, which Romania does not lack, in context Energy economy– the science of using limited energy resources.

Over the past year, and especially recently, an avalanche of resolutions (from Brussels, and more recently from the Romanian Parliament), projects, ideas, analyses, pilot projects with a Hollywood-like popularization of more or less scientific debates about the vital role that hydrogen will play in our everyday future in decarbonizing our livesflooded the media, literature, countless debates and conferences.

Hydrogen seems to have become a “hype” (Eng. = aggressive advertising) or a “drug” (Eng. = roughly the same meaning as a drug), if not a new ideology in energy, which seems to compete even with the dream of humanity – nuclear fusion .

Leaving all that aside, let’s start with the basics of hydrogen, what it is, what it’s good for, and above all, that it would be useful for us Romanians, first of all, at least in the short/medium term, ahead of other pressing local economic priorities.

We start with which is not hydrogen:

• hydrogen it is not a free element in naturetherefore, it does not have the characteristics of a (natural) fuel that can be harvested and used directly for energy purposes;
• hydrogen, without being (directly) fuelit must be “manufactured” and, as with any manufacturing process, equipment is required (electrolyzer), raw material (clean water) and, last but not least, energy (also clean and redundant, even a lot clean energy NA – we will return to a very important concept below clean energy).
• hydrogen is not cheap. The above material and energy balances, if not at least common sense, should tell us that we will have a significant cost of the “produced product” (hydrogen) (N/A. Below we will return to a very important term essential) over the sum of all those who contributed to production with “legitimate” and inherent crop losses.

at the end of, what is Hydrogen? :

• Essentially, hydrogen is an energy carrier, not a (direct) source of energy;
• Hydrogen can also be a fuel (pure), but only in the presence of air it becomes volatile, otherwise in most cases it is assimilated exclusively as a fuel and less as an energy storage medium or an energy carrier (energy carrier);
• Hydrogen is a useful element that contributes to some decarbonization goals, but it is general not enough to cover all potential demand For consumption;

To conclude this introduction, I am fascinated by the enthusiasm with which hydrogen is treated, at least here in Romania, by students, young engineers, environmentalists and especially politicians “struck by a hydrogen wave”, not knowing or forgetting that for at least 40 years thermal power plants in Romania have operated electrolysers (larger than pilot projects in PNRR) to produce hydrogen for cooling generators, or that hydrogen has been used in (gas) turbines for more than 10 years in some chemical plants, also in Romania, or that hydrogen was used in petrochemical plants in Romania (which no longer exist). Both in the EU and in Romania, politicians (primarily!), chemists, researchers, manufacturers of special installations, energy consumers who suffer desperately from high energy prices and, very much, all kinds of mass media that successfully support this “spectacular » a trend that “hooks the public” and gives hope for cheap energy.

Which Hydrogen is it about?

Continuing the analysis of hydrogen as a solution for decarbonizing the economy (note that we are talking about the economy, not the energy sector, as we will show below), the central goal is pure hydrogen (green).

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