Introductory Thoughts on Hydrogen

Is hydrogen the energy source of the future?

Predicting the future is, shall we say, difficult. So the best (safest) answer to that question is, “maybe…but maybe not.”

But my answer – at the risk of predicting the future – is, probably so.

I’m inclined to see hydrogen as the energy source, the energy commodity, the low-carbon fuel of the future. And by future, I mean within the next thirty years. But not much sooner.

We already know that hydrogen can be used to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and as a replacement for some fossil fuels in industrial processes.

Additionally, hydrogen can be used in the production of electricity through electrolysis, that is, the splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen, then using that hydrogen to fire a turbine with no GHG emissions.

None of that is without difficulty and controversy. But still, already today hydrogen as a component of the lower-carbon economy is a thing. And I think it’s going to grow. Many countries have set ambitious targets for the development and use of hydrogen, and there is significant investment in research and development as well as early-stage infrastructure projects.

It is very, very early.

There are still many technical, economic/financial, and regulatory challenges that need to be overcome in order to realize the potential of hydrogen.

But if hydrogen is going to reach anything near its potential in playing a significant role in the decarbonisation of the energy sector in the next few decades, it is going to happen in Texas, and more particularly, in Houston.

We are going to look more at that next.