The future (and complex) hydrogen economy
There’s a growing body of evidence which suggests that hydrogen could be a solution to our energy needs in the future, with many countries trying to position themselves as producers and exporters, but there are also some important caveats.
For example, despite Toyota’s huge investment, using hydrogen to fuel cars or other light vehicles makes no sense, given the potential of batteries; at best, it could be used for heavy transport such as aircraft and trains.
Then there’s the question of how we create hydrogen: no matter what the oil companies and their lobbies say, the only hydrogen that makes sense is green hydrogen produced from renewable facilities, because its alternative, so-called “blue hydrogen” which is essentially refined from oil, is more polluting than coal.
In other words, the oil companies have no future as hydrogen producers. But this doesn’t mean that countries like the United States, India or Saudi Arabia, which have plenty of land they can use for huge solar farms, are still vying for an important place in hydrogen production from the surplus…
