THREAD: Where to use hydrogen and where not - new research by @PIK_Climate led by @FalkoUeckerdt just published in @NatureClimate provides merit order for hydrogen use.
Headline finding: Hydrogen is not recommended for use in cars and space heating. 1/n
It all comes down to efficiency. Overall electricity-to-useful-energy efficiencies of hydrogen range from roughly 10% (light trucks) to 35% (boilers), which translates into electricity requirements that are 2–14 times higher than for direct electrification alternatives. 2/n
E-fuel mitigation costs are estimated to be €800–1,200 per tCO2. Large-scale deployment could reduce costs to €20–270 per tCO2 until 2050, yet it is unlikely that e-fuels will become cheap and abundant early enough. 3/n
Important finding is that overlooking or neglecting demand-side solutions threatens to lock in fossil-fuel dependency if hydrogen falls short of expectations. 4/n
The authors conclude that "sensible climate policy supports e-fuel deployment while hedging against the risk of their unavailability at large scale" and that "Policies should [...] prioritize hydrogen and e-fuels for sectors that are inaccessible to direct electrification." 5/n
@MLiebreich makes similar points in his recent post following a merit order approach. 6/n
The research tallies quite well with this @fraunhofer_iee study from last year which also did not see a role for hydrogen for heating buildings and in cars. 7/n
The idea that heating with hydrogen will make it easier to decarbonise buildings because little insulation is required is also false as I point out in this new article for @EnergyMonitorAI.
Our analysis of hydrogen for heating is well-aligned with this new research. Poor efficiency, high costs and practicalities around scalability all render large scale hydrogen heating extremely challenging. @EnergyMonitorAIenergymonitor.ai/sector/heating…
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Fossil fuel industry representatives have suggested that, when it comes to decarbonising buildings, hydrogen is their get out of jail free card. No need to insulate buildings. Just replace the fuel.
Here's why their argument is deeply flawed and false.
The article shows that oil giants such as Shell, BP and Norway’s Equinor have staked their futures on fossil gas as a less-polluting alternative to oil. Now they hope that by stripping the carbon from their methane to create hydrogen, they can ensure a market for it remains. 3/7
Existing policy is insufficient to deliver on the target and falls short by close to 50%. The gap is even larger to the @theCCCuk trajectory required for net zero. 2/7
We will need a policy package consisting of 4 elements:
1) financial support especially for low-income households
2 structural reform of bills and stamp duty 3) regulatory backstop in early 2030s 4) all of this underpinned by robust governance framework
The EU’s hydrogen strategy is out laying out a European vision for hydrogen. THREAD euractiv.com/section/energy…
1/ Key sectors for using hydrogen identified in the strategy include industry (e.g. steel, chemicals), shipping and aviation. This is sensible as few alternatives exist for decarbonising these sectors.
2/ The Hydrogen Strategy assumes a lot of hydrogen from gas reforming with CCS will be needed as hydrogen from renewable electricity won’t be available fast enough to meet demand. Risk here is lock in as so-called blue hydrogen is not zero carbon.