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- Scoop Market Mysteries 7-24-22 (Green Hydrogen)
Scoop Market Mysteries 7-24-22 (Green Hydrogen)
🔎 Market Mysteries: Why are companies investing in green hydrogen?
Market Mysteries of the week
Why are companies investing in green hydrogen?
Answer:
Green hydrogen has the potential to dramatically shift our ability to produce emissionless electric power.
It's a fuel source that can be stored and transported relatively easily and produces only water vapor when burned for energy.
What is green hydrogen?
Green hydrogen refers to
hydrogen fuel produced using 100% renewable energy
. Hydrogen is already used as fuel, burned like natural gas, and turned into fuel cells that operate like batteries. It emits no greenhouse gases when it's burned. But while hydrogen burns clean,
current industrial production of hydrogen gas is carbon-intensive
, negating its environmental benefits as a fossil-fuel alternative.
Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, but it requires energy to isolate the hydrogen atoms into the clean-burning gas. So
like oil refining, ammonia production, methanol production, and steel production. Most of the electricity used today to
(H2O), a process called electrolysis, comes from fossil fuel power. However,
when renewable energy sources are used to power electrolysis, it creates an entirely emission-free energy supply.
Once isolated,
hydrogen is a valuable and efficient fuel source
. As a gas, green hydrogen is compressible and much lighter than a lithium-ion battery. It also
like natural gas and oil to ensure energy security. Hydrogen fuel cells have a
and can refuel much faster than a battery in an electric vehicle.
What are some potential hurdles to expanding green hydrogen?
The biggest issue facing green hydrogen is
the lack of existing infrastructure to support its use as a fuel.
For hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to reach a larger market, there will need to be a nationwide network of refueling stations. Currently, supply and demand are low globally for green hydrogen, but Southern Europe is the epicenter for the expansion of hydrogen as a fuel.
accounts for 20% of green hydrogen projects globally, thanks partly to the existing network of renewable wind and solar plants across the country. Analysts estimate that
green hydrogen production costs will need to drop by 50% for the tech to be a viable fossil fuel alternative
that will scale.
Will green hydrogen replace batteries?
Hydrogen fuel cells are not likely to fully replace batteries, but
the two technologies will serve different purposes
as we transition to decarbonizing transportation. Using green hydrogen to power
fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) is more reliably environmentally friendly
than charging a battery electric vehicle (BEV) with electricity from the mixed-source power grid.
FCEVs may also be more socially-responsible
. The rare metals used in BEV batteries are hard to source and even harder to recycle, with several human rights concerns along the supply chain of raw materials from the
. The mines that extract these metals
,
for local populations, and lack proper
.
Infrastructure remains a challenge
despite a potentially more responsible profile for fuel cells over batteries. Fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) have a more extended range and refuel in five minutes. Still, battery electric vehicles (BEV) may be better suited for final-mile delivery due to their charging station reliability. Hydrogen tanks can be bulky, but ongoing innovation could make them more attractive than batteries. The smallest Tesla battery in the Model 3
and takes an average of 12 hours to charge fully.
,
there is no silver bullet to solve climate change
. By deploying both technologies to serve different markets, automakers are creating a diverse offering for electric vehicles to fill many niches.
How are businesses working with green hydrogen?
Energy companies like BP and Shell see it as
an ample opportunity to decarbonize their energy businesses
, investing billions in recent years to scale green hydrogen supply chains.
will begin operations at a renewable energy plant in Western Australia, integrating solar and wind to provide electricity to residents and create clean green hydrogen fuel. BP believes it has "the potential to be
." In Germany,
is already operating one of the biggest green hydrogen plants and plans to build an
in Rotterdam that will be operational by 2025.
Green hydrogen has also started to
replace fossil fuels across the transportation industry.
is developing a semi-truck with a range of over 600 mi that refuels in less than 15 minutes.
hopes to create a network of global hydrogen fueling ports to supply aircraft with zero carbon fuel.
While green hydrogen has immense potential to decarbonize the energy, industrial, and transportation sectors,
the technology still has hurdles before it can be fully adopted
. It is still expensive to produce and requires an allocation of renewable energy resources that are still relatively scarce. Look out for more companies investing in this technology.
💙 The Share Scoops Team
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