Courtesy: Civics Unplugged Civic Innovator fellowship
Abstract:
The pressing need to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions has led to a growing focus on green hydrogen as a promising solution. Produced by electrolysis using renewable electricity, green hydrogen offers a zero-carbon alternative to fossil fuels, enabling the decarbonization of hard-to-abate sectors such as steel manufacturing, shipping, and aviation. This clean energy carrier has the potential to transform the way we power industries, transportation, and heating and cooling systems, reducing carbon emissions by up to 95%. With government support and investment in electrolyzer technology, green hydrogen production costs are decreasing, making it an increasingly viable option for a sustainable energy future. As the world transitions to a low-carbon economy, green hydrogen is poised to play a critical role in achieving net-zero emissions and mitigating the impacts of climate change.
Climate change:
Earth’s surface remains significantly warm, with recent global temperatures being the hottest in the past 2,000-plus years. The Paris Agreement, an international treaty on climate change signed in 2016 and negotiated by 196 parties at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, sets the target cap for global temperature rise at no more than 1.5℃ by 2100. This 1.5℃ doesn’t mean we’re safe, but significant climate events will be less severe than at something like 2℃. The impacts of climate change are extensive, including heatwaves, flooding, wildfires, and droughts, with cascading effects on food security, infrastructure, migration, and public health. Vulnerable communities, particularly people of color, indigenous populations, and those with lower incomes, face disproportionate risks, emphasizing the need for equitable climate adaptation strategies.
Greenhouse gases:
Greenhouse gases (Carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide) trap heat and warm the planet. Human activities are responsible for almost all of the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere over the last 150 years. The largest source of greenhouse gas emissions from human activities in the United States is burning fossil fuels for electricity, heat, and transportation.
Is there any way our incredible energy needs could be met by something besides fossil fuels?
A case study in Climate innovation: Green Hydrogen
Hydrogen can be a critical enabler of the global transition to sustainable energy, and a key part of net zero-emissions economies – when produced from renewable electricity. It is the most abundant element in the universe, but is also not found in free form.
Like electricity, it is an energy carrier and not an energy source; currently, its clean production and use is more expensive than fossil fuel alternatives. However, things are changing, and more than 40 governments have developed national hydrogen strategies in recent years. Interest in hydrogen was initially spurred by energy crises beginning in the 1970s, yet only in the past decade has it indeed come to be viewed as a viable option for decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors (most national strategies see hydrogen as an option for those sectors that cannot be easily electrified).
A clean hydrogen economy could become a reality with further innovation and cost reduction. Hydrogen is produced by splitting water (H2O) into hydrogen and oxygen using renewable electricity. This makes it distinct from other forms of hydrogen fuel sources that are not climate-neutral.
What problems does it address?
(i) Crucial for decarbonizing sectors that are difficult to electrify, such as steel manufacturing, shipping, and aviation
(ii) Hydrogen can be combusted directly as a fuel (with zero carbon emissions) or converted to hydrogen-derived fuels such as green ammonia and green methanol
Limitations:
(i) Like other “green” energy alternatives there are challenges around its ability to be scaled up: needs to be contained in high pressure, infrastructure for transport, high need for renewable electricity
(ii) Questions about whether government standards for “green” considerations are too lax
How green hydrogen could end the fossil fuel era?
https://www.ted.com/talks/vaitea_cowan_how_green_hydrogen_could_end_the_fossil_fuel_era?geo=hi&subtitle=en
(Courtesy: Vaitea Cowan)
As climate change accelerates, finding clean alternatives to fossil fuels is more urgent than ever. Mass-producing electrolyzers- devices that separate water into its molecular components, hydrogen and oxygen — and show how they could help make green, carbon-free fuel affordable and accessible for everyone and how we can end the fossil fuel era.
Takeaways:
The chemistry experiment where we split water into hydrogen and oxygen using a battery and pencils holds the key to tackling climate change. Today, we can replace fossil fuels with green hydrogen, produced by splitting water using renewable electricity. This clean molecule can power industries, transportation, and heating and cooling sectors, which can’t be fully electrified.
Green hydrogen is 100% clean and can eliminate up to 95% of carbon dioxide emissions in industrial processes like steel production. Major manufacturers are already building green hydrogen-based steel production processes. Hydrogen planes also take off, offering an emission-free alternative to traditional aviation.
Green hydrogen transforms renewable electricity into a versatile energy carrier that can be combusted directly as a fuel, stored across seasons, or used in fuel cells to create electricity. It’s already being used in various applications, including power generation, global shipping, and remote villages.
The challenge lies in making green hydrogen cheaper than fossil fuels by reducing the cost of electrolyzers, the devices that create green hydrogen. This can be achieved by massproducing standardized, compact electrolyzers that can be combined to achieve any hydrogen quantity needed. By focusing on economies of scale and driving down prices, we can make green hydrogen the future fuel source and end the fossil fuel era.
A visual of green hydrogen:
Government support
Green hydrogen has a lot of government support:
(i) Tax credit in the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA): The IRA will be a climate game changer for two reasons: first, by putting domestic emissions targets within reach, and second, by reducing the costs of clean energy technologies
(ii) India’s goals to be a major producer: The Indian government has set an emission limit of two-kilogram carbon-dioxide for every kilogram of hydrogen produced to be classified as “green” from renewable sources and India has become one of the first few countries in the world to announce a definition of Green Hydrogen
Panama Case study- Marea Verde (Green Tide)- Trash wheel project:
(i) In 2018, Marea Verde (or “Green Tide”), a Latin American environmental group, put the Wanda Diaz trash wheel in Panama’s Juan Diaz River. This wheel is fueled by hydraulic energy from the river’s current and solar energy. The river basin holds 16% of Panama’s population and was constantly choked by trash – mostly plastics. The TRASH WHEEL has been super successful: collects over 12,000 pounds of trash per
month!
(ii) The wheel uses AI and machine learning to identify the types of trash being picked
up, which allows for more effective policy solutions.
Important considerations to be kept in mind:
i. Energy alternatives are climate-friendly from start to finish, and “Greenwashing” is avoided. Greenwashing is a company’s environmental claim about something intended to promote a sense of environmental impact that doesn’t exist.
ii. When tackling issues as significant as the climate crisis, we need to work within existing frameworks. Ex: Green Hydrogen doesn’t require that we stop using planes and cargo ships.
iii. The consequences of climate change aren’t evenly distributed across society due to any combination of political, social, economic, and environmental conditions. Policies must be framed to address this.
iv. The human cost of emerging technologies – even those that might slow the climate crisis has to be considered:
References:
(i) https://cucrew.notion.site/Through-the-Smog-The-Climate-Report315c381992354dc4888ddbfcd8324484
(ii) https://academic.oup.com/ce/article/8/2/156/7624470
(iii)https://cig.uw.edu/projects/an-unfair-share/
(iv)https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/india-govt-sets-emission-limithydrogen-qualify-green-2023-08-19/
(v) https://www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/the-battle-for-the-us-hydrogen-productiontax-credits/
(vi)https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en/market-insights/latest-news/energytransition/061622-eu-2030-green-hydrogen-target-feasible-with-creativity-alignedsubsidies-ft-summit
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