Hydrogen: Making the case through life cycle analysis
The UK’s pledge to reach Net Zero Carbon before 2050 has been primarily planned around decarbonising the electricity supply, leading on to the electrification of heat and transport, e.g. through domestic heat pumps and electric cars, trucks and trains.
A big challenge for the latter part of this approach is the fact that the additional energy demands for heating and transport are together more than four times the current electricity supply. To deliver such an increase of electricity, whilst bringing emissions to Net Zero Carbon, will require bringing more renewable energy from increasingly remote sites; a proportionately large expansion in transmission lines; a massive roll-out of new electrical technology on streets and in homes; and large capacity energy storage to buffer between renewable supply and demand cycles.
It is in this light that many stakeholders, including the Institution of Chemical Engineers’ Clean Energy Special Interest Group, have identified hydrogen’s potential as an alternative energy vector that can be competitive and complementary to electricity. They are suggesting that utilising hydrogen as a fuel for heating, transport and industry and as a means of energy storage and long distance transmission may provide ways to ease the transition to Net Zero Carbon.
In this opinion article, Mike Keast talks about how decisions on hydrogen’s role in energy systems might be made, suggesting that industry collaboration and long time-horizon life cycle analysis could be the first step.
Read more here.