Name: Hydrogen: fuel of the future? | The Economist
Uploaded: 2021-09-18T12:23:25.000Z
Duration: 8 min 5 s
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Hydrogen has been hailed as a fuel of the future...

...that could help end the world's dependence on fossil fuels...

....and aid the transition to net-zero emissions

But for this hydrogen revolution to take place...

...some big obstacles need to be overcome

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe

And it's present in almost all living things

But on Earth pure hydrogen is very scarce

Instead, it mainly exists combined with oxygen in the form of water

...get turned into a fuel that could help save the planet?

Hydrogen is an energy carrier unlike, let's say, petroleum...

You can use methane through a process called steam reforming

Or a source of electricity through electrolysis

Once you have some hydrogen you can either burn it directly...

...or mix it with oxygen in a fuel cell, which is rather like a battery

The reaction in the fuel cell produces electricity and heat...

...the only emission that comes out of the tailpipe is pure, drinkable water

In contrast, of course, to the internal-combustion engine...

...which puts out loads of nasty chemicals and carcinogens

This means that, as long as the energy used to produce it is sustainable...

NASA started using hydrogen fuel cells...

...to generate electricity in its space capsules in the 1960s

Today it's not just being considered as a rocket fuel in space...

...but also for planes, trains and automobiles

The most likely early applications are going to be in heavy industry...

These are heavy, heavy greenhouse-gas polluters...

...and they consume lots of energy, a lot of coal in particular

And it's very hard to replace that with electricity...

...which is probably how most of the decarbonisation...

This isn't the first time hydrogen has been hailed as a fuel of the future

...making hydrogen required vast amounts of fossil fuel, or nuclear energy...

...which made hydrogen both more expensive...

...and less efficient than other ways of storing and delivering energy...

...until climate change moved up the political agenda...

The existing fossil-fuel infrastructure has been in place for decades...

It's trillions of dollars of invested legacy equipment...

...and the companies that built it defend their assets

...for governments to force that legacy equipment to be pushed aside...

...in favour of radically new rival equipment...

...like hydrogen infrastructure or for that matter, renewable energy

The passengers look down to see the east coast of America...

There has also been a battle against public perception of hydrogen's safety...

...sparked by the Hindenburg disaster in 1937

Within seconds there was a terrific explosion...

...and brilliant orange flames formed the backdrop...

Hydrogen gas is very flammable, and does need to be stored in a specific way

The Hindenburg did not explode because of the hydrogen it's been shown

And what's more, industry has shown that hydrogen vehicles...

...can be safer than internal-combustion vehicle cars that use gasoline...

...which, of course, is an explosive product

Across the world, hydrogen every day is used by industry perfectly safely

One advantage hydrogen has over batteries...

...is that it's much more energy dense...

...which means that with a very high-pressure storage system...

...it takes much less space in order to make a vehicle go any distance

If you have a hydrogen tank on board a vehicle...

...you can refuel quickly compared to batteries and electric cars

We have issues of refuelling stations and fuelling infrastructure...

So that's another obstacle that stands in the way of hydrogen

There's also a question over how sustainable hydrogen really is

Despite some advances in the technology to generate it...

...it still requires energy-intensive processes...

...that are fuelled largely by fossil fuels or lots of electricity

The only way to make truly green hydrogen...

...is to produce it using sustainable energy

At the moment, a lot of the hydrogen that's used in the world...

...but that does produce some greenhouse-gas emissions

Some people see this as terrible. And other people say this could be a bridge

It can help build a market until there's enough renewable energy...

...and electrolysers become more efficient and more cost effective

But even if renewable energy is used in the electrolysis process...

...the energy content that comes out is less than what goes in

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Hydrogen: fuel of the future? | The Economist

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