What will be the future vectors for energy? Vectors being the way that we move energy from one place to another.
Currently about 75% of the world’s energy is transported in the form of large molecules – these are the fossil fuels, and the world is very good at managing and transporting these molecules, there have clearly been many issues (oil spills etc) but mostly it is safe and cost effective. In future we could make large synthetic molecules for energy transport built from captured carbon.
Small molecules typically refers to hydrogen. The lightest and smallest molecule of all. This has an energy per weight advantage over Natural Gas i.e., a kg of hydrogen contains more energy, but a volume disadvantage i.e., it takes a lot more space to store it. The world is not yet experienced in transporting Hydrogen, most of it is used in the site where it is produced to create chemicals like ammonia and fertilizers.
There are options to convert Hydrogen into a larger molecule and then transport it, or to compress it. The issue this creates is round trip efficiency and I have seen figures as low as 35% for energy released compared to that put in.
Electrons is electricity. We are very good at transporting it over moderate distances (up to 500 miles) and have some techniques (HVDC) for going further. The source of the energy used to generate the electricity and the distance transported determines its efficiency. Issue with electrons is the scale and cost of the networks and the cost of storage.
In future we will need all vectors. A future world will store energy in large molecules that are transported over large distances, it will use electrons over short to medium distances. Where it will use hydrogen isn’t yet clear, but my expectation is that we will start with local uses.
