U.S. hands out $7 billion for hydrogen hubs

President Joe Biden’s administration today announced $7 billion in funding for seven regional “hubs” to produce hydrogen, which produces water as exhaust when combusted. If made cleanly, hydrogen could help fight global warming by replacing fossil fuels in the fertilizer and steel industries, and in tricky-to-electrify vehicles such as long-haul trucks. The hubs, which will be funded by the Department of Energy (DOE), are meant to shift hydrogen production away from today’s dirty approach: cooking methane under high pressure with steam, a process that has a big carbon footprint. The hubs include both producers and customers, and aim to spur hydrogen adoption by building up storage tanks, pipelines, and other infrastructure. Hydrogen has had a “chicken and egg” problem, says Keith Wipke, program manager for fuel cell vehicles at DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. “Nobody will start large-scale production until there are customers,” he says. And customers are reluctant to switch to hydrogen without a steady and cheap supply of the gas. “It’s the same story as we’ve seen with solar and wind. The more you build, the cheaper it becomes,” says Anne-Sophie Corbeau, a researcher at the Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy. One hub in the Pacific Northwest will focus on so-called green hydrogen, made by using renewable solar or wind power to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. That hub will partner with one in Califo...
Source: ScienceNOW - Category: Science Source Type: news