Articles
For North Coast news online visit
Planet Watch: Is hydrogen the fuel of the future? David Lowe
T
here’s been a lot of hot air in the media recently about hydrogen. The federal government wants the gas as part of their energy road map, and the green side of politics is enthusiastic too, with certain caveats. The problem is that there’s hydrogen and then there’s hydrogen. As an energy source, things quickly get complicated where the simplest chemical element in the universe is concerned. Burning hydrogen releases energy. When used in a fuel cell, the chemical reaction between the hydrogen and oxygen creates electrical current. Although hydrogen is the most abundant chemical substance we know of (more than half the atoms in our bodies are hydrogen, for example, along with 91 per cent of our sun), it doesn’t occur naturally in a pure form on this planet – humans have to make it. This is worth doing because of hydrogen’s very high energy content by weight, and its potential sustainability as a fuel source. In 2017 the Hydrogen Council coalition (including massive players like Toyota,
Hyundai and Anglo-American) told COP23 in Bonn that hydrogen had the potential to contribute 20 per cent of the abatement needed to limit global warming to two degrees celcius, while also creating 30 million jobs and US $2.5 trillion worth of business, by 2050. The coalition predicted a tenfold increase in the production of hydrogen in the next 30 years. So where’s all this hydrogen going to come from? That depends on what colour it is… Strangely, for an invisible element, hydrogen comes in quite a few colour varieties. Presently, 95 per cent of the world’s hydrogen production is of the ‘brown’ and ‘grey’ type. ‘Brown’ refers to fossil fuels as the source ingredient (coal or methane gas, derived via natural pressure or fracking), which is treated with steam, to break apart the molecular bonds of the hydrocarbons. In the process, a large quantity of carbon dioxide is generated. If this is allowed to escape and pollute the atmosphere, the process is called ‘grey’. ‘Green’ hydrogen uses electricity to break apart the hydrogen from the oxygen in water (H2O) in a process
Op Shop
Cnr Tweed St & Booyun St | Next to IGA Supermarket Open with restricted hours and with social distancing in place.
Mon to Fri 10am–4pm Sat 9am–1pm
ALL CLOTHES $2 byrondogrescue.org • Ph 0447 927 600
Left: Toyota Mirai fuel cell vehicle, ready to be fuelled with CSIRO-produced hydrogen. Right: Solar flares as hydrogen converts to helium in the sun. called water electrolysis. More energy is required to make hydrogen this way, but if the electricity used is renewable, this is a much more environmentally sound method of production. There’s also ‘blue’ hydrogen, in which the ‘brown’ steam methane reforming method is used, with its environmentally unsound fossil fuel recipe; but then the resulting carbon dioxide is captured, and separated from the hydrogen. Like ‘clean coal’, this process is highly problematic. There have been successful experiments making biological hydrogen with algae bioreactors, another green process, and by using concentrated solar thermal energy. Whichever way hydrogen is made, the main by-product of burning it in air is pure water.
Is this the energy of the future? Compared with the best battery technology, hydrogen can release much more energy per unit of mass. That means cars and trucks running on hydrogen fuel cells
can cover longer distances. Refuelling is quicker too. Tesla CEO (and battery manufacturer) Elon Musk, has described hydrogen fuel cells as ‘fool cells’ and as ‘mind-bogglingly stupid’, but there are some major players, including Toyota, who see the potential of hydrogen very differently. With a background in applied physics, Toyota Chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada has said, in response to Musk, ‘We don’t really see an adversary “zero-sum” relationship between the EV (battery powered electric vehicle) and the hydrogen car. We’re not about to give up on hydrogen electric fuel-cell technology at all.’ Another innovation is the idea of fuel stations that make their own hydrogen, using solar power, from rain harvested on the roof. Honda has even built tiny solar hydrogen stations designed for home use. In the US, Honda and General Motors are collaborating to build hydrogen fuel cells. Ford is doing hydrogen research. California is planning to build 200 hydrogen fuel stations by 2025. In Europe, the largest green
hydrogen production plant is currently in Finland, with other major European players looking at scaling up green hydrogen to industrial levels. The Chinese are talking about hydrogen for transport and distributed electricity generation. In Germany there will soon be hydrogen-powered trains.
National Hydrogen Roadmap In Australia, the CSIRO recently delivered a National Hydrogen Roadmap that seeks to shift the narrative from ‘technology development to market activation’, arguing that the key associated technologies are now mature. CSIRO research has made it possible for hydrogen to be transported in the form of liquid ammonia, using existing infrastructure, then reconverted back to hydrogen, at the point of use. Hydrogen produced in Queensland using this technology has recently been used successfully in passenger vehicles. One of the most exciting potentials for hydrogen is
the possibility for it to store excess renewable energy, for example, in places without big batteries, and to export that renewable energy without the need for lengthy copper cables and the associated power losses. This can be achieved at community scale, or in conjunction with large wind or solar farms, such as the planned Yara Pilbara project, or the even bigger Asian Renewable Hub, which is expected to deliver green hydrogen by 2027. The Murchison Renewable Hydrogen Project is another exciting development in Western Australia. QUT has already exported the first green hydrogen to Japan from Queensland. The Grattan Institute recently suggested that low emission, green steel is another real possibility with hydrogen, creating thousands of new jobs in the process. Federally though, the current talk from Energy Minister Angus Taylor is all about mixing hydrogen with fossil fuel gases in existing pipelines, and extending the life of dead-end fossil fuel investments by using these substances to make brown hydrogen for export. Business as usual, in other words. This approach needs to be called out and resisted. Hydrogen has far more positive potential than that. Q A longer version is
available on Echonetdaily: www.echo.net.au/planetwatch-is-hydrogen-the-fuelof-the-future, and was made possible by the support of Byron Eco Park Holdings.
NEW DISPL AY NOW OPEN
NEW 60m² DISPLAY IN EWINGSDALE Come and visit our brand new display, and experience the latest in granny flat design. Due to COVID-19 we are now open by appointment only. For more information or to book an inspection email Josh Perry, hello@backspacebyron.com or call (02) 56 24 50 20.
BACKSPACELIVING.COM (02) 56 24 50 20
We’re open and blending! Serving the most delicious and nutritious smoothies in Byron Bay, we only use the highest-quality organic and local ingredients. Mon to Fri: 8am - 3pm Sat: 8am - midday Bayshore Dr, Arts & Industrial Estate (02) 6680 9965 / @bareblends.byronbay
16 The Byron Shire Echo `ƖōƷ ǯǽ ǩǧǩǧ
North Coast news daily in Echonetdaily www.echo.net.au