Hydrogen Revolution: The Green Energy Sources for Future Sustainability

“Let’s nurture the nature, so that we can have a better future”

Natural resources are stocked finitely in Earth and increasing population and speedy race of economic growth have accelerated the needs as well as the rate of consumption of these resources. For sustainable use of resources, the best possible availability is harnessing and finding alternative energy sources. The increasing population itself is not an alone danger to our planet, rather the major concern is that the ecological footprints left by each individual are increasing day by day. This is especially true in countries with developed economies, as they need more resources to manage their daily life when compared to developing economies. This, in turn, is creating more stress on the environment. The problem can be minimized by reducing the ecological footprint by 50% but it seems a tough task with such an economic system that relies on consumerism. So, efficient resource management might be a better option.
Solar energy is the current emerging alternative energy source. But, ideas and designs to improve the efficiency of this resource are equally important. Imagine a world where we could generate electricity by using the surface of our windows, smartphones, our car’s sunroof or glass roof of offices. What sounds like a faraway dream is on its way to become reality- all thanks to transparent solar panels. This new technology will change the way solar cells absorb light. It has immense potential to generate renewable, clean energy considering the number of skyscrapers and buildings already in existence with a massive amount of glass surface.

Low-Carbon Hydrogen:

The next biggie as an alternative energy source is Hydrogen. Actually, it is the time for “Hydrogen Revolution”. Hydrogen can be used as a green energy source and can be made to be true zero-emission achieved through electrolysis powered by renewable energy. It can be used in fuel cells where hydrogen reacts with oxygen to generate electric current, releasing water instead of carbon dioxide as the by-product. If properly managed, it can be used to decarbonize giving outstanding outcomes. This future green hydrogen can be the inexhaustible energy carrier produced using renewable electricity and electrolyser that can split water into oxygen and hydrogen Leaving zero emissions. Green hydrogen is clean, green and ubiquitous. It is a perfect green cycle, can be produced everywhere and used everywhere.

Benefits and Roles:

As we are familiar with hydrogen since long now. Currently, it is involved in various applications. However, it’s the greatest potential is for industries such as steel, aviation, the sea as well as road transport where decarbonise is not an option. Green hydrogen Or the low carbon hydrogen, as it is called, is always a way to transform energy requirements Because it burns clean leaving only water vapour behind in the process. Glass and steel making industry requires high temperatures heat, for them, green hydrogen can be a game-changer in replacing fossil fuels. Green hydrogen can also be a tool to deal with variability in electricity systems. When excess solar and wind power floods into the grid, it can be converted into hydrogen which can be used elsewhere or even to produce electricity.

Hurdles and Future Prospect:

The biggest hurdles in implementation of green hydrogen are system cost but predictions foretell that they will curb down as in case of solar and wind power. There are also concerns about conversion efficiency and the losses in the conversion steps required to produce green hydrogen from electricity. However, in a system that is going to be increasingly reliant on abundant, low-cost renewable energy, the efficiency is not the main worry. It’s going to become less of an issue as more renewable energy is generated. Once low-carbon hydrogen is produced and stored, it needs to be transported. Fortunately, transportation routes don’t always have to be built from scratch; existing infrastructure can fast-track hydrogen’s role in the energy transition. One of the main drivers, especially in places with well-developed natural-gas networks such as Europe, is the potential of hydrogen piggybacking on gas infrastructure that already exists. This becomes even more compelling considering the struggle to build new fixtures to accommodate the energy transition. Europe as an example will have massive amounts of new offshore wind in the northern parts of Europe and additional solar in the southern parts. However, it doesn’t have the infrastructure to take that to the load centres. By turning that electricity into gaseous hydrogen, we can use the existing gas grid to transport it. There are thousands of kilometres of gas pipelines that are already available. This is a massive opportunity that will significantly reduce costs in the hydrogen industry. And we can also ease the burden on the need for additional overhead power lines, which face lengthy permitting procedures. European Union is already promoting it. South Korea as well as Japan had already started building infrastructures for utilization of hydrogen as an alternative energy source and this gas was the centre of discussion in recent G20 summit as well for the green energy source. We should look forward to new ways to harness its potential for sustainable use and consumption. It’s a complex process with many intricacies and like anything new, there are some challenges. But the rewards are so vast that we have no choice.

Dr. Indu Tripathi
Research Director, Energy and Nanotechnology Division, QRACE