Hydrogen is variously seen as a key decarbonization opportunity or a big decarbonization problem, either way with major impacts on the energy system. This webinar is an attempt to understand the hydrogen ecosystem and how it might impact the energy system.
- Production of low-carbon hydrogen will be essential to replace the ?60 millions of tons of fossil hydrogen used annually as feedstock for various chemical processes, such as making fertilizer. Other uses of hydrogen as a feedstock may arise to reduce the carbon intensity of other industrial processes. Production of low-carbon hydrogen by electrolysis from renewable electricity will have a significant impact on the electrical grid.
- Molecular hydrogen could be used as a renewable energy carrier, but it is a lousy one, with only 1/4 to 1/3 of the energy used in the process recovered when the hydrogen is fed to a fuel cell or simply burned for heat. Molecular hydrogen is also difficult to transport and to store, and most of the molecular hydrogen made today is used where it is being made, or nearby.