Question:
But the NG is going to run out in a finite number of years. The
hydrogen will extend its life considerably. The pipeline life and
profit will be extended similarly. Funny thing to laugh at.
The NG is "free" and the "tidal energy" is free. We just have to
compare infrastructures.
Doesn't the cost of the 30' tidal generator come into the picture?
Please cite the number of nontransportation instances anytime ever where
electricity was converted to a gas simply to expedite shipping.
Answer:
Given the scenario that the NG is about to run out and it's not reasonable
to transport NG to the pipeline, then compare the cost of conversion loss,
electrolyzers, fuel cells, inverters and control electronics, etc. with
other alternatives (such as shipping diesel 1000 miles) and it's unlikely
your major industrial center would choose electrolytic production of
hydrogen, hydrogen transmission and fuel cell generation of electricity.
There are other problems as well. A pipeline designed to carry natural gas
isn't likely to be suitable for carrying an equal quantity of energy in the
form of hydrogen because of the lower volumetric energy density of hydrogen.
It's also unlikely that massive quantities of electricity would be produced
1000 miles from nowhere. I have an opportunity to generate significant
quantities of hydroelectricity in a remote place and that is what began my
interest in hydrogen energy storage and transmission. I soon learned it
would make more sense to bring the major industrial center to the waterfall
than to bring the energy to the major industrial center in the form of
hydrogen.
If you have massive amounts of electricity 1000 miles from anywhere, I
suggest building a foundry or some other energy intensive enterprise
(depending on available resources and transportation) at the source of
energy. If that doesn't make sense, then it probably makes sense to forget
about that source of energy.
You also stated that "the 'tidal energy' is free" and apparently realized it
is not free when you asked the question "Doesn't the cost of the 30' tidal
generator come into the picture?" The cost of the 30' tidal generator
certainly does come into the picture if tidal energy is what you had in
mind! Also the cost of maintaining and operating such a generator (not to
mention the cost of speeding up the earth's rotation when there are 25 hours
in a day!)
