The Future of Hydrogen Energy

Is Hydrogen an alternate renewable resource? If so, why is hydrogen energy not implemented more in our energy systems when making the switch to alternative sources? 

Hydrogen fuel is clearly growing the ranks, which is made evident economically- the hydrogen market is predicted to grow from $444 million in 2021 to an astounding $4.4 billion just 5 years later. 

Hydrogen, first of all, is a much more renewable resource as it is the most abundant element in our universe. This addresses questions about the long-term sustainability of hydrogen as a fuel source. It is also far more efficient than standard fossil fuels. Energy produced by hydrogen per unit weight of fuel is about three times that produced by petrol and seven times that produced by coal, both standard fuels used today. This makes hydrogen very promising in energy sectors like transportation when weight and space are vital considerations. Hydrogen also only has one byproduct, water, when being produced which is not at all harmful compared to all of the greenhouse gasses produced by burning fossil fuels. This is because the combustion of hydrogen does not typically result in any air pollutants. Lastly, hydrogen is also very easy to store because it can be compressed into gas, liquid, or even solid form, making it extremely versatile as an energy source. 

Unfortunately, hydrogen production is not always emission-free. Blue Hydrogen is made using fossil fuels by a process called steam methane reforming (SMR). In the SMR process, carbon dioxide is still produced. However, it is captured and stored so it does not become a greenhouse gas, a process known as carbon capture. Although, carbon capture through hydrogen production is still relatively clean compared to the use of standard fossil fuels, it is still not completely free of emissions. Green Hydrogen, on the other hand, is produced with renewable energy sources using electrolysis, the process of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen. This process requires significantly more energy and makes it far more costly than producing blue hydrogen. The shift to strictly green hydrogen would be the most beneficial to the environment, but is not used as often due to its limitations. 

So if hydrogen is so beneficial to decarbonization, why has it not been scaled properly yet? The answer is that there are simply so many logistical issues with producing hydrogen energy. Firstly, producing hydrogen, although more environmentally beneficial than other sources, makes little economic sense to corporations. Because there is a lot of energy involved with producing hydrogen, it is extremely costly. To make matters worse, the infrastructure associated with hydrogen production is still not completely developed and is rather inefficient. Developing new infrastructure such as pipelines, storage facilities, and fueling stations to accommodate for hydrogen is also very costly and scares away manufacturers. 

When reading about different implementation projects involving hydrogen energy, I came across the H2RES project. In this project, wind turbine manufacturers combine wind power with hydrogen energy to back up the deficiencies of wind power. Wind power does not always generate the same amount of energy because it is completely depended on wind speeds at the particular time, a factor that pushes investors away from wind energy. This project incorporated hydrogen energy as a storage system so that it is available for use whenever wind energy production is insufficient. The excess wind energy that is generated past sufficiency is converted into hydrogen energy using electrolysis. It is then stored and used whenever necessary. Projects like these testing the feasibility of hydrogen storage systems are the steps that we need to be taking. 

There are certain logistical problems with hydrogen energy, but finding solutions like this one in which issues with wind and hydrogen production are solved in one make the future of our energy crisis look more hopeful.