The OurEnergyLibrary aggregates and indexes publicly available fact sheets, journal articles, reports, studies, and other publications on U.S. energy topics. It is updated every week to include the most recent energy resources from academia, government, industry, non-profits, think tanks, and trade associations. Suggest a resource by emailing us at info@ourenergypolicy.org.
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The fossil fuel industry has helped generate enormous interest around hydrogen, making it difficult for policymakers to tell how much they can rely on hydrogen to meet climate goals. Too often, companies that profit from our reliance on fossil fuels invoke the vague promise of “clean,” “renewable,” or “green” hydrogen to derail action today. To avoid this trap, policymakers must scrutinize claims about hydrogen and think critically about where it can be a meaningful part of real climate solutions. To reclaim hydrogen for a renewable future, policymakers should explore opportunities to produce hydrogen from renewable electricity and use it to …
View Full ResourceAs global warming mitigation and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions reduction become increasingly urgent to counter climate change, many nations have announced net-zero emission targets as a commitment to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Low-carbon hydrogen has received renewed attention under these decarbonization frameworks as a potential low-carbon fuel and feedstock, especially for hard-to-abate sectors such as heavy-duty transportation (trucks, shipping) and heavy industries (e.g., steel, chemicals). Green hydrogen in particular, defined as hydrogen produced from water electrolysis with zero-carbon electricity, could have significant potential in helping countries transition their economies to meet climate goals. Today, green hydrogen production faces …
View Full ResourceClean hydrogen is experiencing unprecedented momentum as confidence in its ability to accelerate decarbonization efforts across multiple sectors is rising. New projects are announced almost every week. For example, an international developer, Intercontinental Energy, plans to build a plant in Oman that will produce almost 2 million tons of clean hydrogen and 10 million tons of clean ammonia.1 Dozens of other large-scale projects and several hundred smaller ones are already in the planning stage. Similarly, on the demand side, hydrogen is gaining support from customers. Prominent off-takers such as oil majors like Shell and bp, steelmakers like ThyssenKrupp, and …
View Full ResourceHydrogen is often viewed as an important energy carrier in a future decarbonized world. Currently, most hydrogen is produced by steam reforming of methane in natural gas (“gray hydrogen”), with high carbon dioxide emissions. Increasingly, many propose using carbon capture and storage to reduce these emissions, producing so-called “blue hydrogen,” frequently promoted as low emissions. We undertake the first effort in a peer-reviewed paper to examine the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of blue hydrogen accounting for emissions of both carbon dioxide and unburned fugitive methane. Far from being low carbon, greenhouse gas emissions from the production of blue …
View Full ResourceHydrogen and energy have a long-shared history. Although there have been false starts in the past, this time around, hydrogen is capturing unprecedented political and business momentum as a versatile and sustainable energy carrier that could be the missing piece in the carbon-free energy puzzle. Clean hydrogen produced from zero-carbon energy sources, such as renewable (green hydrogen) and nuclear power (pink hydrogen),1 appears ever more likely to play a prominent role in the global transition to a low-carbon economy.2
As governments and corporations become increasingly committed to addressing climate change and reducing emissions, they are placing greater emphasis …
View Full ResourceLowering the carbon footprint of energy use is at the core of discussions on energy transitions and hydrogen has become a part of that dialogue. Decarbonization efforts and commitments from governments and industries are rising due to global climate and sustainability targets, and many are exploring and adapting innovative technologies and business models with the goal of zero-carbon or low-carbon energy and carbon utilization strategies. As the challenges and complexities of the energy transition evolve, industry is also transitioning to a new age of human development, one where the environmental and societal consequences must now be balanced with economic ambitions.…
View Full ResourceThe transportation sector is the second-largest source of CO2 emissions, after electricity and heat generation, accounting for about 25 percent of global emissions.1 However, it is also one of the most challenging to decarbonize due to its distributed nature and the advantages of fossil fuels in terms of high energy densities, ease of transportation, and storage. Moreover, the degree of difficulty in decarbonizing varies significantly across the sector, making the challenge even more daunting.
So far, emissions reduction strategies have focused on improving vehicle and system-wide efficiencies, mode switching, and electrification. The latter is proving relatively easy for …
View Full ResourceThe IRENA Coalition for Action brings together leading renewable energy players from around the world with the common goal of advancing the uptake of renewable energy. The Coalition facilitates global dialogue between public and private sectors to develop actions that increase the share of renewables in the global energy mix and accelerate energy transitions.
Green hydrogen – hydrogen produced from renewable energy – can provide the critical link between renewable electricity generation and hard-to-abate sectors such as industry and heavy transport. Featuring several case studies on pioneering green hydrogen projects and first-hand interviews, this white paper by the Coalition provides …
View Full ResourceOn May 20, the Aspen Institute Energy & Environment Program virtually convened the fifth in its 2021 series of Clean Energy Innovation Roundtables. This convening brought together experts to discuss the categories of decarbonized hydrogen, uses for it, and the opportunities for and barriers to its deployment. This summary captures some of the key topics of discussion.…
View Full ResourceGreen hydrogen is a viable solution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and transitioning away from fossil fuels for “hard-to-abate” sectors. The supply chain for hydrogen is not yet fully developed. Several barriers, such as the high cost of green hydrogen compared to non-renewable alternatives and the lack of dedicated infrastructure, are still impeding hydrogen’s full contribution to the energy transition.
This report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) aims to provide a basis for understanding these challenges and the solutions available. It highlights the range of policy options available, complemented by country examples.
Policies presented in this report include …
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