Green methanol

[GregLocock]

I must admit green methanol slipped under my radar. Methanol isn't a terrible gasoline substitute when done properly. it is easy to store, has a reasonable energy density, and uses CO2 up.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/green-methanol-production-a-techno-economic-analysis-clrkc/

But, (bearing in mind Ned Stark's quote, "Nothing someone says before the word 'but' really counts,") the efficiency of water to hydrogen is 70%, and the efficiency of hydrogen to methanol is 70%, so even on the way in, you have lost half your energy, and then a fuel cell is about 50% or so (methanol is not an ideal fuel for fuel cells), so you are down to 25%. In some ways this doesn't matter, if you've got a few hundred acres of solar in the middle of the desert then you either use spare energy at 25%, or lose it.

There's also the advantage to the end user that methanol can be made in other ways so to some extent even if the electrolysis path for hydrogen carries on being a science project, you are still able to use your device. This is roughly the same argument made for EVs in a fossil fuelled grid, its politics not engineering.


Cheers

Greg Locock


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[BrianPetersen]

The overall efficiency of green-energy to power-to-the-wheels is in the same vicinity as hydrogen (not great ...), but methanol is a whole lot easier to deal with than hydrogen is. Easier to store, easier to transport, easier to handle.