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Clean hydrogen: vital pillar of the clean energy economy

Clean hydrogen technologies
The transition to an environmentally responsible industry is a global commitment. The U.S. government is taking a leading role in this transformation. The U.S. Department of Energy will commit $750 million to fund the Biden-Harris administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Act.

 

Green hydrogen

This funding will seek to reduce the cost of clean hydrogen technologies dramatically. This grant is an essential element of the President’s overall approach to accelerate the widespread use of clean hydrogen. In turn, it will play a crucial role in supporting the deployment of hydrogen on a commercial scale. Green hydrogen will be a vital pillar in the emerging clean energy economy. This hydrogen is produced with zero net carbon emissions. It will be critical for meeting the Biden-Harris administration’s goal of a 100% clean electricity grid by 2035 and zero net carbon emissions by 2050.

 

Cutting-edge research

U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm expressed: “Today’s announcement is yet another exciting step toward lowering the cost of and scaling up clean hydrogen production, a versatile fuel essential to the nation’s historic transition to an equitable and secure clean hydrogen technologies future. By investing in the cutting-edge research and development necessary to making market-ready clean hydrogen a reality, DOE is delivering on President Biden’s promise to implement an ambitious climate agenda.”

 

Zero emissions

Clean hydrogen produced with zero or near-zero emissions from renewables, nuclear power, or natural gas with carbon sequestration will play a vital role in the future in reducing emissions from some of the most challenging sectors of our economy to decarbonize. These include industrial and chemical processes and heavy transportation.

 

Energy independence, resilience, and security

Hydrogen will strengthen the country’s energy independence, resilience, and security through diverse domestic clean energy pathways in multiple sectors of the economy. This hydrogen also contributes to the expansion of renewable energy because it provides a means for long- term energy storage. At the same time, it offers flexibility and multiple revenue streams for all types of clean energy generation, including innovative technologies, such as the existing nuclear fleet and advanced nuclear.

 

Challenges

Despite the advancement of hydrogen technologies produced in the last year, challenges and costs hinder the large-scale adoption of this element from achieving the development of its full potential.

DOE aims to bring the Hydrogen Program to $1 per kilogram of clean hydrogen within a decade through technical advances created by the collaborative work of the regional clean hydrogen centers (H2Hubs), the President’s Inflation Reduction Act tax incentives, and ongoing research, development, and demonstration in the program.

 

DOE’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office

Funded projects will be managed by DOE’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO). Through them, they will address the underlying technical barriers to cost reduction that scale alone cannot overcome. And they will seek to ensure that emerging commercial-scale deployments are feasible with future lower-cost, higher- performance technology. Opening up new markets will be achieved through cost reduction. This, in turn, will create more clean energy jobs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This will strengthen U.S. competitiveness in the global clean energy market.

 

Climate change

Helping to address climate change through a sustainable clean hydrogen economy will have a positive effect. It will reduce harmful air pollution and decarbonize some of the most polluting sectors of the economy. Reducing greenhouse emissions from these sectors will be particularly beneficial to disadvantaged communities that have previously suffered from local air pollution.

 

It can be of your interest: January 2023 – The ESG’s impact around the world for the ecological transition

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