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HYDROGEN IS KEY

On the op-ed page of the Honolulu Advertiser was an article by Heather Reams and Rebecca Lorenzen entitled:  Hydrogen is key to climate battle, but we must get it right.

  • Heather Reams is president of Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions (CRES), a right-of-center non-profit based in Washington, D.C., and has been doing so since 2016.
    • CRES advocates for a clean energy policy in the U.S.
    • Was founded in 2013 by James Dozier to engage Republican lawmakers in the conversation about clean energy, and promote subsequent energy policy as a nonpartisan issue.
    • In 2017 had an ad campaigned directed at President Donald Trump to either stay in the Paris climate accords or to renegotiate.
    • In 2018 received a $1 million grant from the MacArthur Foundation.
    • In 2021 partnered with ClearPath to bring Republican lawmakers to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland.  This was the first time a Republican-only delegation attended a UN climate conference.
    • A 2020 poll showed that over two-thirds of young voters were more likely to vote for a Republican candidate who states that climate change is real.
    • Also advocates the use of nuclear energy.
    • Among the congress people they have endorsed include Lindsey Graham, Tim Scott and Elise Stefanik.
  • Rebecca Lorenzen is senior policy manager for the CRES Forum and author of the white paper, Growing an Industry for Hydrogen Energy  She says:
Hydrogen has been dubbed the “Swiss army knife” of clean energy, given its potential to become a tool to cut emissions in key sectors, as well as to assert U.S. global energy leadership and increase our nation’s competitive edge. Given its unique attributes, it has the potential to greatly reduce emissions in hard-to-decarbonize industrial applications such as steelmaking, cement manufacturing, trucking and aviation. It may also be appropriate in certain cases as a means to promote grid balance via power generation and energy storage. According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), switching to low-emissions or clean hydrogen in hard-to-abate[1] sectors could reduce global energy-related CO2emissions by 10 to 25 percent, and U.S. CO2 emissions by up to 10 percent from 2005 levels by 2050.[2] Many countries across the world have recognized hydrogen’s potential, and at least 39 countries have adopted explicit national hydrogen strategies.[3]

Hydrogen production and transportation infrastructure in the U.S., 2018.

Projections for timing of hydrogen achieving cost-parity in different sectors.

These are the seven Department of Energy Hydrogen Hubs.

Global distribution of clean hydrogen production  projects by capacity (kt H2/year).

Actual investments in hydrogen projects by state in 2023.
Cost comparison of clean hydrogen production pathways.
You will more and more see colors related to hydrogen:

  • Green hydrogen is a term used for hydrogen produced via electrolysis powered with renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, biomass, hydropower, or biogas, and does not produce GHG emissions. Only about 1 percent of global hydrogen production84 and less than 1 percent of domestic production is via electrolysis.[228]
  • Blue hydrogen is a term for hydrogen produced from fossil fuels and steam methane reforming (SMR). Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) is used to reduce emissions produced from this process.Only around 0.6 percent of global fossil-based production is coupled with carbon capture and storage -CCS- (“blue hydrogen”).[229]
  • Gray hydrogen is a term for hydrogen produced with fossil fuels such as natural gas or propane, using SMR without carbon capture. Natural gas-based production is currently responsible for 62 percent of global hydrogen production.[230] In the U.S., 95 percent of hydrogen is produced via SMR.[231] 
  • Brown or black hydrogen is a term for hydrogen produced by gasifying coal and has the highest carbon impact of any hydrogen production method. Currently, coal gasification for 21 percent of global production.[232]
  • Pink hydrogen is a term for hydrogen produced from nuclear energy using electrolysis. This method does not produce direct carbon dioxide emissions.
  • Turquoise hydrogen is a term for hydrogen produced when methane is split into hydrogen and solid carbon using heat, known as methane pyrolysis. It does not produce direct CO2 emissions.
  • Yellow hydrogen is a term for hydrogen produced via electrolysis solely from solar energy using electrolysis, and does not produce carbon dioxide emissions.
  • White hydrogen is a term for naturally occurring form of hydrogen found in underground deposits, that have been discovered through activities such as drilling and fracking. There are currently no strategies to exploit white hydrogen, although some companies are looking into it.[233]
  • Gold hydrogen is a term. for hydrogen that forms from microbial processes in depleted oil wells.[234]
  • What a monumental piece of work by Rebecca Lorenzen.  I'm long retired from academia, but I try to keep up with the field, and every so often in this blog post on what is happening with hydrogen today.  While I remain somewhat conservative about timing, glad to see others a lot more bullish.  My experience.

1979-1982  Drafted the original Hydrogen legislation when I worked for U.S. Senator Spark Matsunaga.  This led to the Matsunaga Hydrogen Act.  (Yes, that's me 42 years ago.)
Mid-90s  Chaired the Secretary of Energy's Hydrogen Technical advisory Committee.  We prepared the Green Hydrogen Report, providing the annual budget for hydrogen R&D.  Amazingly enough, both the U.S. Congress and USDOE embraced the plan.  
2006  Won the Hydrogen Man of Year Award from the National Hydrogen Association.

From 2008-2011  There are of course, research journal articles on hydrogen I can cite, but my contributions to the Huffington Post are more readable:
Hurricane Beryl at 140 MPH brushed by Jamaica and will make landfall over Sian Ka'an, Yucatan Peninsula, on Friday.

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