I am a huge admirer of Dr. Sabine Hossenfelder and her insightful reviews of science and global scientific activities. Recently, she published an excellent, well-researched video exploring the challenges of adopting hydrogen gas as a green energy source.
Dr. Hossenfelder’s critical perspective is both valid and necessary for our community. Scientific hypes should always be approached with skepticism. Regarding hydrogen energy, many of my readers are familiar with the significant challenges posed by hydrogen embrittlement. Despite being discovered over 150 years ago, even detecting hydrogen’s behavior at the nanoscale — a vital step toward understanding and mitigating hydrogen embrittlement — remains a formidable challenge (more here).
Alarmingly, dogma persists in modern science. I have encountered cases where renowned university professors downplay the issue, claiming and saying to students that “hydrogen embrittlement is not a problem” or “hydrogen it is manageable”. The reality is far different. A study by Briottet and Ez-Zaki, presented at an ASME conference, highlights the severity of the issue: the force required to propagate a crack in pipeline steel (grade X70) drops significantly with just a 1% blend of hydrogen gas in natural gas. (You can read their findings here: ASME Digital Collection.)
Skepticism is a cornerstone of scientific progress, yet it seems to be waning. The hyper-specialization of students and researchers in recent years has created a fragmented view of science, which undermines our collective ability to critically evaluate emerging technologies. We must take responsibility for this: we need to shape the next generation of scientists with a multidisciplinary approach while re-embracing the foundational principles of the philosophy of science.
Dr. Hossenfelder’s video is a must-watch for anyone interested in the future of hydrogen energy. However, in my view, she missed an important point: addressing the challenges of implementing hydrogen as a sustainable energy source—namely (i) hydrogen embrittlement and (ii) efficient hydrogen production — requires significantly more scientific research. In my opinion, scientific research is the key to solve our modern society problems…
Materials at Extremes 
Of course I agree that criticism is important in science, but this doesn’t mean we should stop using hydrogen for the energy transition. There are indeed challenges to overcome in understanding the phenomena involved and in detection of hydrogen, but this means we have to solve these challenges and not complain that they exist. I see no way, for example, to solve the question of high carbon footprint industries like steelmaking and cement without extensive use of hydrogen. Current research investigate the ability of existing pipelines to transport hydrogen, because we want a cheap and fast way of solving the problem of long-range transport of hydrogen. Of course the steel will be degraded, we want to know how fast, and how much.
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I absolutely agree. That is why I say that what we need in hydrogen energy is much more scientific investments and research!
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