Takashi Goto, Vice President of Strategy, NTT Research, Japan, considers how existing pipelines can transform the global adoption of hydrogen energy. n February, Pew Research published an alarming finding: federal action addressing climate change fell to the 14th highest-rated (out of 18) policy priorities among polled US adults. Only 42% of respondents felt dealing with climate change “should be a top priority for the president and Congress to address this year.” But the threats posed by climate change continue to grow, and now is not the time to de-emphasise our climate priorities in favour of issues some might deem more pressing. Rather, now is the time to invest resources in the most creative and innovative technologies that will help us mitigate this existential threat. One of those innovations rests entirely on advancing the capabilities of our future global pipeline infrastructure. Conversations around renewable or cleaner energy sources often centre on a handful of solutions – wind, solar, water and tidal, geothermal or nuclear power. Yet, another vital alternative is too commonly overlooked despite its place at the very beginning of our periodic table: hydrogen.
Hydrogen is too often absent from conversations about the global transition to cleaner energy sources; fortunately, we’re beginning to see that change. In September, a coalition of 20 countries agreed to increase their output of low-emission hydrogen 90-fold by 2030. In 2021, research published by Qatar University scientists in Frontiers in Sustainability noted that “Low carbon hydrogen can be an excellent source of clean energy, which can combat global climate change and poor air quality.” Additionally, the research stated that a hydrogen-based economy could decarbonise sectors “including transportation, shipping, global energy markets and industrial sectors.” If properly adopted, hydrogen can be expected to meet the world’s ever-growing demand for electricity and heat. It is particularly difficult to reduce carbon consumption when heating buildings running on conventional energy sources, so it is believed that substituting hydrogen as an alternative energy source will greatly contribute to reduced carbon usage. In the future, hydrogen may even become renewable as it can be produced by
Figure 1. Example of existing pipeline infrastructure that could be used for the transportation of hydrogen.
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