Studies show that the climate gains from using hydrogen decrease if it comes from far

Researchers at Radboud University in Nijmegen and the TU Eindhoven have warned that the climate gain from green hydrogen could be disappointing if it is not implemented in the right way. Although Green Hydrogen is considered the holy grail of sustainable energy, the researchers claim that if hydrogen is transported over long distances, it becomes less environmentally friendly.

Hydrogen is labeled green if it is made by splitting sustainably generated electricity water into oxygen and hydrogen. This is a clean process, as no CO2 is released during it.

However, the problem is that CO2 is released while transporting it and with all the necessary steps for its production. "As long as the manufacturing of solar panels, wind turbines, electrolyzers, and batteries are partly dependent on fossil energy, then the production of hydrogen will always lead to emissions," environmentalist Kiane de Kleijne and her colleagues wrote in Nature Energy. Electrolyzers are machines that are used to produce hydrogen.

The researchers have calculated the impact of over a thousand planned projects. They conclude that green hydrogen "often but certainly not always" results in CO2 gains. The researchers went on to clarify a few of their findings. For example, they have calculated that hydrogen production with wind energy saves more CO2 emissions than with solar energy.

The researchers' other insight is that local production causes fewer emissions than if people were to get hydrogen from afar. When it comes to hydrogen made with wind energy, long-distance transport always leads to more emissions than locally produced hydrogen, according to the researchers. This is even true in cases where there is not much wind near home.

Hydrogen can serve as a replacement for natural gas in the industrial sector. European countries hope to import large quantities of green hydrogen to run their industrial industries with it. De Kleijne has her questions regarding this: "What is important to produce in the Netherlands and Europe? And in which cases is it better to maybe move the industrial projects to somewhere else in the world?"

Green hydrogen can become cleaner in the future; this would require using sustainable energy in the manufacturing of wind turbines, solar panels, and other installations.

The study also mentions the amount of steel that will be required for this. Steel is currently mainly made with coal. Production can also be made more sustainable by using hydrogen.