PEM or AEL electrolyzer

PEM electrolyzers have a stable efficiency over a wide range of power input and follow load changes in seconds. You can even connect PEM to photovoltaics directly without any electronics in between. Sounds great, but there are severe disadvantages: shorter usage of the equipment and high prices due to extremely expensive materials like iridium and platinum.

The world production of gold is 3,000 to 3,500 t/a, and platinum is 180 to 200 t/a. We have only 7 to 8 t/a Iridium. Even the complete world production of iridium would be only 11 GW PEM electrolyzers.

Surprise, we have again detected a missed profitability transition.

There had been a time when photovoltaics and batteries had been extremely expensive. No batteries are necessary at a PEM electrolyzer, making the best usage of the expensive photovoltaic. In this scenario, the high price per kW of PEM electrolyzers did not matter. In this scenario, the scarcity of iridium did not matter. But here again, we have a missed profitability transition. How can this happen so often in the area of the energy transition?

Best explanation is the “It doesn't make economic sense” trauma. In the time before 2009, people working for the energy transition heard again and again, “It doesn't make economic sense”. Over several years, this developed into a severe trauma. The reaction was, “We have to do it, whatever it costs”. This trauma-induced reaction brought the energy transition in a bad situation.

-250% CO2 emission until 350 ppm are reached again
	Less CO2 emission is much too little, even zero emission is insufficient. Only a planet renovation with large-scale CO2 filtering and splitting from the atmosphere will help.

Filtering and splitting CO2 from the atmosphere
	Due to their enormous space and water requirements, plants are unsuitable for the necessary reduction of the CO2 content in the atmosphere. There is no room for 37 million km² of growing forest.

390 PWh/year electricity for CO2 from the atmosphere
	Reduce the CO2 content with Power to Carbon, generate fuels with Power to Liquid and use CO2 for indoor plant cultivation to replace large-scale agriculture.

Carbon fiber becomes standard material for construction
	If we filter the 33.1 Gt CO2 emission of 2019 from the atmosphere and split it into C and O, we get 9 billion tons of carbon. What to do with it?

IPCC Report 2021: “Net Zero Emissions” Fairy Tale and its Devastating Consequences
	Constantly contradicting itself, the IPCC 2021 report adheres to the completely inadequate “net zero emissions” target. This can only be thinking prohibitions.

Green dogmatism and the destruction of the German photovoltaic industry
	How the dogma “the demand for electricity will decrease” led to extremely wrong targets, which led to the destruction of the German photovoltaic industry in 2013.

Why Germany is failing in the energy transition
	In the first decade of the new millennium, Germany was the great role model in the energy transition, why, on the other hand, the current EEG policy leads to disaster.

Sri Lanka crisis 2022 example of oil exit failures
	Hit hard by the breakdown in tourism caused by COVID-19, the higher price of oil comes as the next blow. The serious failures of the industrialized countries.

Destructive cult prevents functional energy transition
	A horror novel about a world without renewable energy and recycling delayed a workable energy transition and thus effective climate protection by decades.

Functional energy transition vs. German energy transition
	We have to denounce very hard the grotesque German energy transition in order to turn all the enemies of this grotesque into fans of a functional energy transition.

Paradigm changes – Profitability transitions – Culture shocks
	We can neither achieve energy transition nor stop climate change if we do not constantly review all parameters and abandon unsuitable views.

Cost optimization — the key to energy transition and climate protection
	Paper written for the CORP.at conference March 22 to 25 2026 in Vienna. My 2025 participation was a last-minute action, but now I have much time to prepare the paper.

Abstract
	To meet the necessary cost optimization targets, we cannot hold the energy problem separate from all other problems: another major problem is housing.

Introduction
	Many imaginations about our future had been created in the past with completely different parameters. Unchecked conclusions from the past endanger our future with unbearable costs.

My personal experience with a profitability transition
	Birds can fly without knowing all the terms of aerodynamics. I reacted with my design change to an ongoing “profitability transition” without knowing the term at this time.

Energy transition
	The long way from random electricity from sun and wind towards 24×365 electricity. Overseen profitability transitions have to be considered as major accidents.

The GEMINI principle: double usage of land
	No better solar power plant, no better housing possible on the same ground is the ultimate target of the GEMINI principle.

Energy-intensive industry
	But even when we correct “household” to 8,000 kWh/a, the difference between 15,000 households and 90 workers in the energy-intensive industry is two orders of magnitude.

Agriculture: How many square meters does a human need for his food?
	Mankind started as hunters and gatherers. 12,000 years ago, 500,000 m² to 2,500,000 m² per human. With the agricultural revolution, the land use was reduced by 2 magnitudes.

Conclusion
	All parameters are in a constant state of change. We have to check all the parameters and predict the development for the predictable future.

References
	News and statements on current topics concerning the energy transition, climate protection and the necessary development towards worldwide wealth.