Hydrogen Safety: An Introduction

Hydrogen is often promoted as a clean alternative to fossil fuels, but it presents serious safety challenges.

• Its extremely small molecules leak easily through tiny imperfections, creating highly flammable mixtures that ignite with minimal energy—sometimes even spontaneously under high pressure.
• Hydrogen burns with a nearly invisible flame, giving little warning of danger, and its low density allows leaks to collect near ceilings or confined spaces.
• Storage requires either high pressure or cryogenic temperatures, adding further risk.

Effective hydrogen safety demands tight containment, specialized materials, reliable leak detection, high-level ventilation, flame monitoring, and well-practiced emergency response procedures.

Further information on this topic is provided at the post https://netzero2050.substack.com/p/hydrogen-safety-an-introduction.