Dear Reader,
Saludos desde Costa Rica! We are here taking in a big dose of that pura vida.
If my career as a climate activist doesn’t take off I might pivot the GWG to become a travel blog - Globe Wandering Goodisons sounds good to me.
Hydro Generation
If it is possible to have a favorite element mine might just be hydrogen. Quick side-note, it used to be mercury (symbol: Hg) but I am no longer so vain (maybe). Hydrogen represents two-thirds of water, which is the essence of beauty, my favorite drink, and crucially, the building block of life on earth.
It has also been all over the climate newsfeed lately as many believe hydrogen could be an integral energy source for a sustainable future.
As a power source, hydrogen has lots going for it. When used in a fuel cell it is a truly clean energy - the only emission is water - and it can be used for anything from your laptop to an 18 wheeler.
Using hydrogen for energy is not a new thing. NASA has used hydrogen gas for decades to send rockets into space and hydrogen fuel cell buses have been in use since at least 1998 when Chicago and Vancouver each ran a test program.
All sounds pretty amazing, hey!? Of course it isn’t so simple.
Hydrogen is the first element on the periodic table and as you may recall from chemistry class, that means it is the lightest of all elements. Since the weight of hydrogen is less than air, it rises in the atmosphere and is rarely found in its pure form.
To use hydrogen energy we first need to isolate hydrogen - and here lies the problem. Let’s take a look at the two main ways to make hydrogen:
Thermal: The primary method is steam reforming, a high-temperature process in which steam reacts with a hydrocarbon fuel (read: fossil fuel) to produce hydrogen. About 95% of all hydrogen is produced from steam reforming of natural gas.
Electrolytic: This is using electricity to create hydrogen and is what we need for hydrogen energy to be sustainable. Water can be separated into oxygen and hydrogen through a process called electrolysis, which happens in an electrolyzer. The electrolyzer functions like a fuel cell in reverse.
So, while using hydrogen fuel is technically ‘clean’, it is not actually clean when hydrogen is produced by fossil fuels.
I hope you are now asking yourself - if hydrogen is a clean fuel, and it can be produced with electricity, and we are amidst a renewable energy boom - why can’t we make all the clean hydrogen we need?
The answer, as is all too frequently the case, is the power of the all mighty dollar. Sustainability is en-vogue but most governments still follow the Wu-Tang model - C.R.E.A.M!!
Take a look at this graph from the International Council on Clean Transportation:
Until the price of green is closer to grey it is hard to believe in a clean hydrogen future.
This wouldn’t be the GWG though if I didn’t leave you with some hope and I am glad to be able to deliver. Earlier this month, Siemens Energy announced they will create wind turbines that also produce hydrogen. They have an existing onshore demonstration facility in Denmark and offshore projects are in the works.
By producing hydrogen at the power source they will avoid costs and power losses associated with transmission cables. Instead, hydrogen travels down pipelines which are about one-tenth the cost of power lines.
Using this method, Siemens expects to be able to produce green hydrogen at a cost in line with gray hydrogen by 2030.
As society continues to push towards a decarbonized future it seems hydrogen has an important role to play - but it is not ready yet. We need investment in companies that are building more efficient electrolyzers and further pioneering ways to direct renewable energy towards hydrogen generation.
The path is there - we just need to do some weed-whacking to make it walkable!
Something Pretty To Look At
Potpourri
Tokyu Hotels has opened the first carbon-neutral hotel in the world. The hotel located outside Tokyo is powered by hydrogen, sourced from waste products.
Finally, a cure for hiccups!
World’s first wooden satellite will launch later this year.
That’s All Folks
Thanks for reading! Did you enjoy this week’s post? Do you feel like you learned something? Would you prefer more something more conversational? Do you enjoy the Potpourri section? I’d love to hear from you as I try to figure out what direction to take the GWG in the coming weeks.