De-Hyping Hydrogen

Climate One

News, Social Sciences, News Commentary, Science, Earth Sciences

4.7 • 583 Ratings

🗓️ 10 October 2025

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For decades, hydrogen has held promise as a revolutionary tool in the clean energy transition. It can be a fuel and energy carrier, and when made with renewable energy and burned in a fuel cell, its only byproduct is water. President Biden’s administration invested billions into proposed clean hydrogen hubs. But as we’ve seen dramatic technological innovations and drastic price drops for solar and wind, lithium-ion batteries, and heat pumps — hydrogen may have gone from tomorrow’s technology to yesterday’s solution. Experts say the best uses of green hydrogen come down to decarbonizing certain industries, like steel manufacturing and fertilizer. So where does hydrogen fit in the modern energy mix? For show notes and related links, visit our website. Episode Guests: Eleanor Smith, Community Organizer, Tó Nizhóní Ání Joe Romm, Senior Research Fellow, University of Pennsylvania, Penn Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media; Author, “The Hype About Hydrogen” Hilary Lewis, Steel Director, Industrious Labs Highlights: 00:00 - Intro 04:04 - Eleanor Smith on learning about the Tallgrass Energy project 12:21 - Eleanor Smith on how the new projects fits in historically 16:45 - Eleanor Smith on opposition to the project 22:06 - Joe Romm on the uses of hydrogen 28:50 - Joe Romm on why there is still investments made in hydrogen technology 35:15 - Joe Romm on using renewables directly vs for hydrogen production 41:00 - Joe Romm on what people need to understand about hydrogen 46:32 - Hilary Lewis on how steel is made 47:42 - Hilary Lewis on the health impacts of the steel industry 51:59 - Hilary Lewis on current green steel projects in the US 56:40 - Hilary Lewis on projects that received federal funding *** Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on ⁠Patreon⁠, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. ⁠Sign up today⁠. Ad sales by ⁠Multitude⁠. Contact them for ad inquiries at ⁠multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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1:05.5	Yes, 2004. And the reason I remember that year is I was in driver's ed, and they asked us to do a project on any car technology that interested us. And so I asked Jeeves. Do you remember that website?
1:19.0	Oh my gosh. That takes me back. Didn't use Google. I used Ask Jeeves, and I found this article about a car that runs on hydrogen power and the kicker.
1:31.0	And I remember saying this line in driver's ed class when I reported it.
1:34.4	It was like, and the only thing that comes out of the tailpipe is water.
1:38.8	And I was so jazzed about it.
1:41.0	And I thought, when I can afford it, I'm going to get a car that runs and only
1:45.4	amidst water. 20 years later, still haven't gotten that car. How about you? Yeah, I mean,
1:51.3	they do exist, but they are certainly not common. Yeah, I have kind of a similar story,
	...

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