Hydrogen is Essential for Industry and Transportation Decarbonization
Rod L. Borup, T. Krause, Jack Brouwer
Abstract
Hydrogen will play a critical role in a future comprehensive energy portfolio; hydrogen will be the decarbonizing tie between the different energy production sources and their end uses. Hydrogen acts as a zero-carbon energy carrier to couple energy sources and end uses. This provides the methodology to decarbonize the major energy consumption sectors of (1) the electric grid, (2) transportation and (3) industrial processes. It can provide energy storage supporting intermittent renewable power and cost-effective energy resilience; it enables the massive and seasonal energy storage that is required for a zero-emissions electric grid. It can be used in the transportation sector, especially for heavy-duty transportation where long ranges and fast refueling are critical. Renewable hydrogen is critical to decarbonize industrial processes that have needs for high temperature, chemical reduction and refining and chemical feedstocks. Hydrogen is potentially the only viable method to decarbonize all sectors of the economy simultaneously.