P2H2

Power to Hydrogen makes electrolyzers that split water with electricity, using a chemistry that replaces the platinum, titanium, and iridium in conventional machines with nickel and stainless steel. The precious metals are most of the capital cost, and the capital cost is what decides whether clean hydrogen is affordable.

The catch is that cheap electricity is intermittent. To use the cheapest, cleanest power, an electrolyzer has to run when the wind blows and sit idle otherwise, which means it can't be expensive, because an expensive machine has to run constantly to pay for itself, which forces it onto grid power that isn't clean. Cheap capex is what breaks that loop. The world uses a hundred million tons of hydrogen a year, made from fossil fuel, emitting around a gigaton of CO2. It is already an industry. It is simply the wrong hydrogen.