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Old 20-07-2020, 09:03 AM   #34
whynot
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Join Date: Nov 2005
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Default Re: Hydrogen is coming

I agree, I think hydrogen is coming. What I disagree with is the timescale. It seems to be a technology, like nuclear fusion, that is " ... in 30 years time ...", and that was a view from the 1970's.

Back in the early 2000's (gosh, was that really 20 years ago), there was a very big push on ceramic fuel cells. To save the environment, apparently, we were all going to buy a home ceramic fuel cell @ $30K a pop. The electricity grid would be decommissioned and there would just be a large gas network (first, natural gas, and over time hydrogen) supplying every home. The fuel cell would generate electricity for the home. In addition, its "waste" product was lots of clean hot water for the home.

(For locals in south east Queensland, now you know why Energex bought Allgas back in 1998. The concept of a hydrogen economy panicked the Executive, and buying Allgas was suppose to be a foot in the door to the home ceramic fuel cell market.)

Energex also bought into Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd (CFCL) at some point in early 2000's, holding around 34% of the company.

Anyway, Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd (CFCL), had an unimpressive entry into the Australian Stock Exchange in 2006. The company could not sell its product, and went into administration in 2016.

As an aside, as part of the retail sale, the QLD government forced Energex to sell off Allgas in 2006, from which it made a very tidy profit.

Below is a link to an enthusiastic review of hydrogen and fuel cells from 2005.

http://www.engcom.com.au/publication...Power_0502.pdf

As an aside #2, this is why the humble worker holds senior management and their acolyte "change manager" / "transformation manager" in very low regard. The Executive Narrative in this particular example has changed over the decades from; gas is our enemy, gas is our friend, ceramics are coming, you are all going to loose your jobs to gas and ceramics, silence during executive reshuffle, because we haven't been spending money on the electricity network we need to uplift the business, we are getting out of gas, silence during executive reshuffle, I didn't know we once had a ceramic fuel cell business ...

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