If producing hydrogen is so energy intensive, why can’t they make more use of wind and solar to offset the costs?

Question

Australia and UAE would be quite ideal for the solar part.

Edit: So changing our energy needs to be reliant on hydrogen is, as Elon says “dumb”?

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Answer 1

They can. That’s also expensive. And hydrogen isn’t nearly as easy to handle as oil. Oil can be pumped, transported in normal steel and plastic containers at room temperature. Hydrogen doesn’t pump well, has a tendency to make metals extremely brittle, and needs to either be pressurized or extremely cold. It will be an expensive uphill battle to go with hydrogen, but it is more sustainable.