Quote:
Originally Posted by spdrun
.... but for civilian uses, why not just electrolyze the seawater to make hydrogen gas to run engines?
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...because if you have energy available it's better to use it directly instead of losing efficiency by converting it into hydrogen. Hydrogen is nothing more than an inefficient storage battery. The hydrogen molecule is so small that normal steel tanks and pipes are like a wool sock for containing hydrogen. While the hydrogen leaks it embrittles the metal, so that fatigue and failure, usually with spectacular results happens much sooner.
The simplest and most effective means of storing excess energy is pumped storage. The Swiss have been quietly and effectively using it for decades.
Thorium fueled nuclear is the energy source of the future, as it can be easily scaled to integer megawatt sizes for remote deployment. Many small isolated nuclear reactors are more effective than a few huge facilities. Relatively abundant thorium hasn't been pursued as a nuclear fuel because it doesn't produce weapons grade plutonium as a useful byproduct like uranium fueled reactors do.