![]() There’s yet another factor also working in hydrogen’s favor: thanks to wind power, which can sometimes be purchased near the source for as little as half a cent per kilowatt-hour, a report from Morgan Stanley forecasts the cost of making green hydrogen could fall by two-thirds by 2030. Moreover, the economics of hydrogen as an alternative to conventional fuels are bolstered in countries with carbon emission taxes and other regulations aimed at slowing climate change. Happily, in some regions, renewable energy is now so abundant that green hydrogen is approaching commercial feasibility. This is straightforward technology known to most high school chem students: dip negative and positive electrodes connected to an electricity source in a tub of water (preferably not one you are soaking in), and the current running through the water will generate hydrogen and oxygen at the two poles, respectively.įrom our perspective, though, there’s a big catch: the process is only green if the electricity comes from renewable sources. The current buzz is about “green” hydrogen - that is, hydrogen produced by separating the H 2 from the O in water using a process called electrolysis. But - and there was always a big but - hydrogen is generally produced by processes that spew carbon into the atmosphere. Even before climate change became a proximate threat, hydrogen held out the promise of a nearly perfect fuel, ubiquitous and clean. But it has been going in and out of style for over a century. Bush trumpeted its promise in his State of the Union address. Hydrogen last had a day in the sun some two decades ago, when President George W. Hydrogen, used as an energy source instead of fossil fuels, is having a moment. ![]()
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