Elon Musk Trolls Bill Gates Over Concept of Hydrogen Energy as Solution to Climate Change

Last Thursday, Elon Musk "trolled" fellow billionaire Bill Gates regarding a tweet linked to climate change. In the social media post, Gates claimed that the current issues caused by the abnormal climate state of the planet could be resolved by technologies associated with hydrogen energy. Elon Musk responded with a "rolling on the floor laughing" emoji.

Elon Musk and Bill Gates: A Feud of Intellectuals

Elon Musk commented a strange response to tech giant Bill Gates after the co-founder of Microsoft tweeted about a rather bizarre solution to climate change. The exchange was after the Tesla boss announced that he fathered twins to his executive at his brain chip enterprise Neuralink.

In a blog by Bill Gates titled "Cut Emissions with Green Hydrogen," he elaborated on the potential of models relying on hydrogen energy and their capacity to work as a solution to mitigate the uncontrollable climate change we face today.

Hydrogen is one of the most abundant elements that could be resourced from the natural environment. It could be transferred into gas for a more effective energy source that is not harmful compared to the usual fuels available today.

Many studies focus on using hydrogen gas as a zero-emission energy source and continue improving its possible applications. Many view the element as one of the keys to alleviating climate matters while bringing back the greatness of the global economy.

According to history, the first scientist interested in utilizing hydrogen as an energy source was the British chemist, physicist, and philosopher Henry Cavendish.

Hydrogen fuel could be reproduced efficiently by burning the said element with oxygen. This process does not rely on the usual carbon factors that are needed by other types of fuel. In the recent century, hydrogen fuel has been part of the industry. Vehicles such as passenger cars and large buses already use this fuel for travel.

The Problem With Hydrogen Energy

Lately, hydrogen energy has been debated in the scientific community. Many experts say that, despite the element being a renewable source, hydrogen's gaseous state is not that friendly to our atmosphere.

In this phase, hydrogen is highly flammable and volatile. To maintain its liquid state and promising features, complex systems must compress the element and balance its temperature.

The same problem is present when converting hydrogen to electricity. The transition process, which involves separating the element from oxygen, is costly even for energy enterprises. Moreover, it heavily requires the support of fossil fuels, a problematic energy source it is supposed to stop.

In a previous interview by CNBC, Bill Gates explained that Elon Musk is known as a constant producer of outrageous comments. Gates continued that the Tesla boss manufactures great electric vehicles and rockets, but that does not imply he should comment on matters he is not involved in as much as other people do.

The philanthropist addressed this statement during a vicious exchange between him and Musk at the height of the pandemic. Musk previously dismissed and denied the spread of coronavirus, an idea that might have offended Gates, who served a great part in developing vaccines against the deadly disease, New York Post reports.

Check out more news and information on Elon Musk in Science Times.