The Key to Understanding Hydrogen

The key to beginning to understand hydrogen, I think, is to see its versatility. Hydrogen can be produced from a variety of processes, including electrolysis and gasification, and from and with a variety of resources, both traditional fossil fuels (natural gas,

coal) and renewables (wind, solar, hydro, biomass). And hydrogen has a variety of uses, and a variety of benefits.

If used to power fuel cell vehicles, hydrogen emits only water vapor and can have a driving range comparable to conventional gasoline-powered cars. Both the Canadian Pacific and

Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroads are experimenting with hydrogen fuel cell locomotives. Small hydrogen fuel cell bus fleets are in operation in Los Angeles, Vancouver and Montreal. Hydrogen fuel cell forklifts could become a wave of the future. Just think of everywhere forklifts are used where cleaner air would be welcomed: ports, airports, grocery stores, warehouses.

Hydrogen is a chemical feedstock for the production of ammonia (a key fertilizer ingredient) and chemicals such as methanol, ethylene and hydrochloric acid. Hydrogen can be a reactant in the biodiesel production process.

Hydrogen can also be used as a clean-burning fuel source to generate electricity in power plants (through combustion in a turbine). We will look more closely at the advantages and disadvantages – there are both - of these opportunities in the future. But suffice it to say, hydrogen is important today and it has a real future. But it will take real understanding of the entire energy economy, with all of its intricacy and challenges, to realize hydrogen’s potential. And he re is where it gets interesting for Texans generally, and for Houstonians in particular.

Houston is the global energy capital of the world. Houston is like Hollywood, Nashville, or Detroit but more so, because energy is more important than film, country music, or automobiles. It takes energy to make movies, music and cars. But not vice versa. Houstonians and Texans know energy, and we know the entire global energy ecosystem.

No where else has the concentration of knowledge, capital, and history as Houston, Midland-Odessa, Mont Belvieu, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Corpus Christi and so on throughout the Lone Star State.

As the petrochemical and refining hub for the United States (if not the world), Houston already produces a significant amount of hydrogen as a by-product of the refining process.

Basically, by accident, Houston already produces about 20% of our country’s daily hydrogen production.

What if Houston turned to intentional hydrogen production as a standalone product?

Could our refineries and petrochemical plants add intentional hydrogen production if the market was there? Undoubtedly it would be difficult and expensive. It would require immense amounts of capital (human and financial). There would be risk. There would be market cycles.

But this is what Houston has and this is what Houston does. And this is what Texas has and does.

Remember when the United States was an importer of natural gas? Remember when fracking (a very old technology) was too expensive? Remember when our refineries had to adjust for the loss of Venezuelan heavy sour? Remember the crude price collapse of 1987 and the accompanying devaluation of Houston real estate and collapse of various savings and loans institutions? Remember Spindletop? Remember George Mitchell? Remember T. Boone Pickens?

Innovation and revolution, survival and perseverance. This is what we do and no place on the planet has the requisite “energy density” required to lead hydrogen development and adoption, like Houston and Texas. If it’s going to happen, it will happen here.

Let’s go!