Hydrogen is the new, green fuel. Or is it?

Recently the federal government awarded funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill to develop regional hydrogen production facilities, including two in Pennsylvania. Hydrogen is a clean fuel because burning it produces water vapor, rather than carbon dioxide. However, we need to consider the process used for making hydrogen before declaring it the clean solution to our energy problems. There are three things to consider — what is the starting material, how are waste products dealt with, and where does the energy come from to drive this process?

Hydrogen gas can be made from either methane (from natural gas), which produces “blue” hydrogen, or from water, which produces “green” hydrogen. If methane is the starting material, the energy-intensive steam methane reforming process generates carbon dioxide as the waste product. To qualify for federal support, the project must include a procedure to capture and store upward of 90% of the CO2 generated. Unfortunately, carbon capture at that scale has yet to succeed, so that part is still hypothetical.

Producing hydrogen by splitting water molecules (hydrolysis) does not have any problematic starting materials (water) or byproducts (oxygen gas). It is, however, an energy-intensive process that is “green” only if the energy used comes from clean, renewable sources.

There is a place for hydrogen in our energy mix, but the devil is in the details. Whether these projects are good for the environment or have negative environmental impacts depends on our choosing wisely among the options presented.

Carolyn Steglich, Harrisville