The world is going green and leaning towards clean, renewable and sustainable energy sources to create a sustainable environment for all. The rising concerns of climate change actions have geared the global transition to renewable energy and the target to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. This drive to achieve energy transition has produced several speculations to accomplish this feat. Energy experts have identified green hydrogen as one of the leading alternatives to store renewable energy and drive the clean energy transition globally desired.
At Cop26, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI) disclosed that about 28 companies pledged to fast-track the use of green hydrogen to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The Hydrogen Council estimated that by 2030, the decarbonisation potential for hydrogen would be approximately 800 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of CO2 emissions evaded.
One may wonder what this green hydrogen is and how does it work? In simple terms, green hydrogen is hydrogen obtained from renewable energy sources (solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal, hydroelectric) such that there will be no carbon emissions. It is produced through a process known as electrolysis, splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen with electric current from renewable sources. Hydrogen derived from this process doesn’t emit greenhouse gases such as CO2, the major climate change pollutant generated from other forms of hydrogen (grey, blue). When it undergoes combustion, it produces water vapour, and its energy content is three times more than that of fossil fuels.
Green hydrogen is a potential means to store energy to balance on-grid power demand and supply, decarbonise industries that are hard to transition to clean energy, and serve as fuel for heat and transportation or to generate electricity through fuel cells. Excess energy produced during off-peak periods from renewables can be stored as green hydrogen and converted back to electricity when demand is high.
The major limitation to the massive adoption of green hydrogen is the cost of production (cost of electrolysis equipment and energy) compared to hydrogen generated from fossil fuels. Governments and institutions can develop policies and strategies to reduce costs and improve the adoption of green hydrogen. Just like the Green Hydrogen Catapult initiative by the United Nations to reduce the cost of green hydrogen to $2/kg by 2026, several other initiatives as this will significantly boost green hydrogen uptake in the next few years.