First Published April 2022
Is a Green Hydrogen Future a Step Nearer?
Item from the Energy Syndicate
The drive for cleaner and cheaper sources of energy has never been so apparent as it has been in the first few months of 2022. The fight for control over the rapidly dwindling fossil fuels is a fight ultimately everyone involved is going to loose. COP 26 saw nations around the world sign up to commitments to aid the reduction of damaging pollution but it maybe, just maybe, money, and the unexpected exorbitant global rise in prices, that will ultimately see the consumers look elsewhere, sooner, for a cheaper, greener alternative.
It is the opinion of the Energy Syndicate, that renewable green hydrogen fuel will be the biggest step to combating fear of energy supply; finding a green path to energy for all of the forward thinking countries. Countries who can let go of the needy grip on fossil fuels and the assumption that there must be control for taxation.
What is Green Hydrogen?
The bulk of hydrogen made today, about 95 percent, is made from fossil fuels. This type of hydrogen production, known as ‘blue hydrogen’, is industrial and makes a lot of pollution.
Green Hydrogen production works through a process of electrolysis, extracting hydrogen from water using electricity. For decades the costs were prohibitive. The production cost as much as 6 times that of the other methods. More recently, a reduction in the cost of renewable energy production, such as solar energy, has seen the price plummet and therefore feasible for production on large scales, as well as being accessible to a domestic user at home.
In 2020, Goldman Sachs saw the green hydrogen market as a once in a lifetime investment opportunity for investors, predicting that by 2050 the market could be worth $12 trillion. The European Union described green hydrogen in 2020 as being at a tipping point – a point from which it is hoped by many will see giant steps towards a cleaner future.
Big business, wants to do big business. Coal, gas, oil all use large scale industry to achieve their goals. Green Hydrogen production however is different. It is within the reach of a household to have their own equipment to produce their own hydrogen with just sunlight and water. A small piece of kit may seem pricey at first, but it will give the consumer the opportunity to produce their own clean energy, to supply all their needs, including fuelling their own car!
Last year saw the first Earthshot awards. One prize went to Enapter for their work on developing accessible Green Hydrogen. They have made a plug and play system for hydrogen production that is suitable for even the small scale, using renewable electricity to produce green hydrogen from a single unit. The units are scalable and so for larger production, the units are linked. Their mission is to make green hydrogen accessible to all, with a vision of the world where there is no more fossil fuel production – a big reason why they won the Earthshot Prize.
Using wind and water to make energy is not a new thing, although the connection with the earths natural power, seemed to take a back seat for almost 200 years. We are now in a position to make use of a clean energy source, and to maintain good standards of living and development.
This month, Australia’s richest man, Andrew Forrest, known as 'Twiggy', has been meeting with UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. He is promising to pour billions of pounds into the UK if the Government supports the development of Green Hydrogen. Although Mr Forrest is no doubt keen to make a profit, large scale investment will see the normalizing of the infrastructure for green hydrogen use and therefore benefit the small scale user and producer.
