Green hydrogen has a leakage problem that may cancel out some of its climate gains

Mon, 29 Aug 2022 05:24:36 +1000

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://reneweconomy.com.au/green-hydrogen-has-a-leakage-problem-that-may-cancel-out-some-of-its-climate-gains/>

"Hydrogen has emerged as the great white (or green) hope of the clean energy
transition due to its potential use in decarbonising hard-to-abate industries
like shipping, steel production, and even transport.

These sectors are tricky to electrify. Cargo ships for example, can’t
necessarily recharge battery supply in the middle of the ocean, and cutting
emissions from steelmaking is a mammoth task.

But despite the potential utility of green hydrogen fuel across these
industries, there are still many unknowns about what it means to integrate the
technology into global industrial processes, or the effects this will have on
the climate.

A new study from the US-based Environmental Defense Fund has found that the
climate impacts from hydrogen technology  – even in it’s greenest form – could
be worse than anticipated.

The research shows that emissions associated with hydrogen leakage – including
from renewables-backed hydrogen – have been substantially underestimated.

The authors say that it is unclear how effective hydrogen will be as a
decarbonisation strategy, due mainly to complexities with measuring actual
leakage rates, and the warming effects of the gas itself."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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