Hydrogen is commonly touted as a renewable power lifeline for hard-to-abate industries equivalent to concrete and metal manufacturing, aviation and delivery. However after I say hydrogen, do you suppose I’m referring to blue or inexperienced hydrogen? Or grey or pink? And which of those shades will be labeled “clear”? Let’s break every little thing down.

Grey, blue or inexperienced, and are they clear?

Earlier than diving into the colours, let’s get on the identical web page about two issues: how hydrogen is presently used and what “clear” hydrogen actually means. First, hydrogen is most generally used in petroleum refining and fertilizer manufacturing, with transportation and utilities representing rising markets, a.okay.a, the molecule is propping up fossil fuels. 

Second, RMI has the finest definition of unpolluted hydrogen (for my part): “Hydrogen is ‘clear’ provided that carbon emissions from its manufacturing, storage, distribution and use are low or zero.” As a result of not all hydrogen is created equally. 

Probably the most emissions-heavy spinoff at present is grey hydrogen, which is produced utilizing pure gasoline or coal through an energy-intensive course of. Grey hydrogen can also be by far the most typical type of this gas within the U.S., making up 95 p.c of home use. Globally, hydrogen manufacturing contributes round 2 p.c to complete emissions. So, all-in-all, probably not the inexperienced various we’re searching for.

Now, onto the extra aesthetic colours in our rainbow of power. Subsequent on the spectrum is blue hydrogen. Blue isn’t all that totally different from grey (womp womp) in that it’s produced utilizing fossil fuels. What units the 2 aside is the seize and storage of all carbon dioxide byproducts through the blue hydrogen manufacturing course of. (Little-known truth: In case you say the phrases “blue hydrogen” thrice inside a coal-drawn circle, you’ll summon West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin.)

Presently, blue hydrogen serves as frequent floor for some (positively not all) renewable power advocates and fossil gas supporters alike. The worldwide marketplace for blue hydrogen was valued at $18.8 billion in 2022, and is projected to develop within the subsequent eight years. The usage of pure gasoline appeases the likes of ExxonMobile, which plans on utilizing blue hydrogen to assist decarbonize heavy business. On the identical time, because the CO2 is captured and saved, the emissions related to creating the hydrogen are eradicated — assuming the strategy of carbon seize has a one hundred pc effectiveness fee.

With blue hydrogen because the bridge between soiled and clear, let’s discover what lies on the opposite facet: inexperienced hydrogen. Simply the utterance of the phrases “inexperienced hydrogen” ought to set off an imaginary refrain of terra angels in your ears, with visions of Mom Gaia descending from her lush, tree-filled cocoon to bestow gentle and peace on this planet. Significantly, although, inexperienced hydrogen is created through electrolysis, or the splitting of water into separate hydrogen and oxygen molecules, and requires an electrolyzer, which makes use of electrical currents to separate the chemical compound.

What elevates inexperienced hydrogen above the blue and grey varieties is using renewable power sources to catalyze the electrolysis. As long as the enter is renewably sourced, the manufacturing and subsequent use of inexperienced hydrogen is just about carbon-free. In 2022, inexperienced hydrogen manufacturing grew 44 p.c in comparison with 2021, and is anticipated to succeed in a market worth of $60.6 billion by 2030; the transportation sector leads in use, accounting for round 40 p.c of world inexperienced hydrogen gross sales in 2021.

Lastly, let’s contemplate pink hydrogen, a fair less-developed selection, derived when nuclear fission is used to energy electrolysis. Pink hydrogen manufacturing methods are nonetheless discovering their footing, however outstanding Swedish nuclear plant OKG, owned by Uniper and Fortum, did announce its intention a yr in the past to promote pink hydrogen to industrial gasoline firm Linde. The plant has really been producing pink hydrogen because the early Nineties as a type of nuclear reactor coolant. This particular case serves as a blueprint for repurposing infrastructure within the inexperienced transition.    

Setting the scene

And it appears just like the European Union is taking that concept and operating with it. On Feb. 13, the EU launched a extremely anticipated algorithm defining what renewable hydrogen means for its member states. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the related fallout severely affected the EU’s entry to grease and gasoline, forcing it to fast-track growth of independently produced renewable power. Inexperienced hydrogen is one promising answer to this multi-pronged dilemma. However as a result of inexperienced hydrogen electrolysis is powered by renewable power (wind, photo voltaic, hydro) many fear that manufacturing would commandeer the entire clear power obtainable on native grids. 

The EU determined to bypass the difficulty by mandating that inexperienced hydrogen can solely come from electrolyzers powered by newly constructed renewable electrical energy technology tools situated on-site. So, meaning every inexperienced hydrogen plant would want its personal on-site wind or photo voltaic farm. If, for some motive, the inexperienced hydrogen plant should hook up with the grid, it must signal a energy buy settlement supporting the manufacturing of native renewable power. These new guidelines are anticipated to spice up using the aforementioned pink hydrogen, thanks partially to the aggressive lobbying of France to incorporate nuclear vegetation as renewable power sources.

In the USA, the Inflation Discount Act is anticipated to exponentially improve the manufacturing of inexperienced and blue hydrogen. The Worldwide Council on Clear Transportation estimates that the IRA “can cut back the price of inexperienced hydrogen manufacturing by virtually half, falling to just about $3 per [kilogram] hydrogen for a undertaking beginning in 2023.”

And the market tendencies are indicating this estimation to be correct. Andres Angulo, an power analyst at GlobalData, defined, “As of January 2023, 90 p.c of [new construction] hydrogen tasks are inexperienced, reflecting … the variety of EPC [engineering, procurement and construction] contractors taking part in larger inexperienced tasks.” 

We’re formally residing in a world the place an important type of power is represented by a spinning rainbow wheel. Control the place the wheel in the end stops.