In the fight against climate change globally, green hydrogen has emerged as a savior. It is recognized as a potential wonder fuel that could help the most polluting industries of the world slash carbon emissions.
Meanwhile, hydrogen itself provides many uses. However, governments and companies are focusing on produce hydrogen in climate-friendly manner to make it truly green.
Interestingly, hydrogen is an abundantly available resource with no emissions when it burns as a fuel. This is all the more reason governments and enterprises are extolling its virtues. Furthermore, the use of hydrogen as a fuel for spacecraft has prompted industry stakeholders to tout it as fuel of the transport industry in the future. For example, airbus plans to start operations of the world’s first hydrogen-powered commercial plane by 2035. In fact, several large automakers already manufacture vehicles using hydrogen fuel cells.
And, transport policymakers are making note of this. Plans are in the making to manufacture hydrogen-powered trains in Italy and Germany.
So much so, presently, some of the industries that are highly polluting particularly consider hydrogen as a promising alternative to fossil fuels. For example, steelmakers such as the German Thyssenkrupp are experimenting to create hydrogen-powered furnaces.
Potential of green hydrogen well accepted, production in clean way debated
To sum this, there exists broad consensus that hydrogen fuel has huge potential benefits, however, the process of producing it in a climate-friendly manner still remains a subject of heated debate.
In fact, for centuries, scientists have understood how hydrogen can be generated from water via electrolysis. The process involves passing an electric current through water, breaking it into hydrogen and oxygen.
However, the process requires power, which currently is largely produced by burning coal and gas.