An ex-NASA rover engineer tells us why 'technology agnosticism' will save the planet

[Caribbeans]

And why Elon Musk is wrong in saying hydrogen is 'dumb'.


Introducing nuGenTM Solution, Anglo American's Zero Emissions Haulage Solution

...Today, First Mode has just announced a merger between itself and Anglo American after a successful partnership between the two in building the world's largest zero-emission haul truck. It's part of an orchestral collaboration that saw First Mode fit a massive 2MW hydrogen fuel cell and lithium-ion battery powerplant into Anglo American's 490-ton nuGen mining truck. And it's one of many projects First Mode has undertaken on its mission to decarbonize industry.

Space engineering principles to save the planet by

Voorhees learned his trade from the pioneering first generation of solar system exploration scientists and engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He joined NASA as an intern in the mid-90s just as many of them were coming to the end of their illustrious careers. By the early 2000s, he was a lead mechanical engineer on the Mars Curiosity rover program.

Two of Voorhees' mentors, Bill Lehmann and Frank Locatell, were instrumental in some of the most iconic robotic spacecraft missions in history, including Voyager, Galileo, and Cassini. Though Voorhees idolized many of his superiors, he eventually realized that, when they started "they didn't know what they were doing either." The most valuable lesson he took from them, he says, was to rely on "good first principles" and to "always search for the simplest solution to a problem."

snip...
Hydrogen versus electric is 'asking the wrong question'

Key to First Mode's success so far, Voorhees says, is the concept of "technology agnosticism", which flies in the face of companies such as Tesla, whose CEO Elon Musk is an absolutist when it comes to the debate over hydrogen and electric vehicles — Musk recently called the idea of hydrogen cars "staggeringly dumb".....more
https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/an-ex-nasa-rover-engineer-tells-us-why-technology-agnosticism-will-save-the-planet

"It reminds me of the solar versus wind argument that happened with renewable energy in the late 90s and early 2000s. Like, which one of these is the right one to win? It turns out both were really good. And I feel the same way here. I look at them as complementary technologies. And we use both." -- First Mode’s Chris Voorhees

nuGen™: Decarbonising Anglo American and our planet.
Building a cleaner, greener, more sustainable world
https://southafrica.angloamerican.com/our-difference/futuresmart-mining/nugen

They were told it couldn't be done. But they did it anyway.

It will take more than one technology to wean the planet off of fossil fuels. "Technology Agnosticism"

[AllaN01Bear]

1. how much water are we going to need to make the hydrogen or r we going to use

hydrocabins such as nasa dose for its rockets?

[Caribbeans]

2. There are around 21,000 desalination plants in operation around the globe

Last time I looked there were 2 in the US (industrial scale)

2/3rds of the Earth is water

And using hydrogen energy is a closed loop - water > desal (if necessary) > fuel cell > water + heat and energy ! It's almost too good to be true

PV Magazine.com | JULY 27, 2022

Large scale solar to power desalination unit in Oman

TotalEnergies and Veolia will construct a 17 MW solar facility at Veolia’s Sharqiyah Desalination plant in Oman. The PV plant will have an estimated annual production of 30,000 MWh and will be able to cover more than a third of the desalination plant’s daily consumption...
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/07/27/large-scale-solar-to-power-desalination-unit-in-oman/

When thinking about large scale Desal plants it helps to remember the Trans Alaska Pipeline that moves oil from the top of Alaska to the bottom - around 800 miles

[eppur_se_muova]

3. Water doesn't need to be fresh to be electrolyzed to give H2 ...

Electrolysis of salt water produces H2, Cl2, and NaOH, plus several products such as bleach, chlorate, and perchlorate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloralkali_process

Let's worry about shortages that are actually shortages.