By Karen Melton, Member, Southeastern Pennsylvania Group
If you think the natural world is precious, if you think a stable climate is worth more than shareholder profits, it’s usually pretty clear which energy projects to support or oppose. If it involves digging up, drilling, transporting, liquifying or otherwise processing fossils – we sign the petition, write to our elected officials, and go to the hearings and rallies. If it’s a clean energy project – geothermal, wind, solar, hydroelectric – we acknowledge the issues that need to be fixed, recyclability of wind, solar and battery components, the carbon footprint of producing those components, and siting wind turbines away from bird migration routes to name a few, but we know they move us in the right direction.
Now come hydrogen hubs. We love that the Inflation Reduction Act is the biggest investment in clean energy ever, but hydrogen production methods run the gamut from all green to all fossils which means there’s a lot of detail we need to pay attention to.
I found the statement Sierra Club issued following Biden’s announcement of the seven hydrogen hub funding awards to be made by the Department of Energy (DOE) -- two that involve Pennsylvania – the most succinct in presenting the hydrogen hub quandary:
“The Sierra Club only supports the use of hydrogen made through electrolysis that is powered by renewable energy, known as “green” hydrogen, with targeted end uses in sectors that cannot easily be electrified, like the steel or concrete sectors. Even green hydrogen has limited applications due to safety and cost restraints. Fossil fuel-based hydrogen, like “blue” hydrogen, is not a climate solution. Electrification is almost always a better investment to address climate change and offer consumers clean, affordable energy.”
Electrolysis is the process for producing hydrogen from water while fossil fuel-based hydrogen is produced from methane gas. Hub proposals to derive hydrogen from methane gas count on carbon sequestration to address the resulting emissions. The Mid-Atlantic Clean Hydrogen Hub (MACH2) proposed by a coalition from Delaware, southeastern Pennsylvania and South Jersey is said to be intended as a green hub, while the Appalachian Regional Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2), including collaborators from West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky, is planned to use methane gas.
The Better Path Coalition along with a number of other green groups issued a press release following Biden’s announcement that went into detail about the downsides of these projects and particularly criticized the sequestration part of the plan.
- Methane is a dangerous greenhouse gas that should be kept in the ground, not used as a feedstock for what can only be considered to be the next generation of fossil fuel production in Pennsylvania.
- The continued fracking of methane necessary for hydrogen production will further endanger the health of vulnerable populations, especially Pennsylvania’s children, who are already suffering from increases in lymphoma and leukemia directly attributable to living near fracking infrastructure.
- Carbon capture and storage does not work. Carbon capture technology has been around for decades, used in a process called Enhanced Oil Recovery. Sequestering CO2 has never succeeded at an industrial scale and there is no evidence at all that any CO2 that is successfully captured will remain sequestered permanently.
- Carbon capture systems are prohibitively expensive. Large-scale blue hydrogen hubs are not likely to succeed without permanent life support from taxpayers’ dollars.
- Carbon capture and storage’s role in blue hydrogen production distracts from the fact that it only pertains to CO2, not the more dangerous carbon, methane. Methane leaks at every step in its production, processing, transmission, and distribution. “Beyond the grave” emissions from hundreds of thousands of abandoned wells in the state continue to go unchecked. Every new well adds to a climate-killing legacy. Blue hydrogen means more wells, more methane leaks, more climate chaos.
- Blue hydrogen brings with it a new generation of dangerous fossil fuel infrastructure. A CO2 pipeline explosion in Satartia, MS showed what can happen when pressurized CO2 is released into the air. People were asphyxiated as they tried to escape in cars whose engines stopped operating for lack of oxygen. Fortunately, none of the people in Satartia died, but several now face lifelong physical struggles as a result of their exposure.
- The CO2 pipelines would deliver the gas to a new class of injection well called Class VI that would reside near unplugged or poorly plugged abandoned wells, increasing the risk of “communication” between the wells that could have catastrophic consequences.
- Hydrogen enthusiasts are promoting adding it to methane pipelines with a Madison Avenue-style name - HyBlend pipelines. Hydrogen molecules are tiny, increasing the risk of leaking pipelines and the disasters that result. The plan is to deliver HyBlend gas to homes, very possibly your home if you are a natural gas customer.
- None of this is necessary and is, in fact, a roadblock to implementation of the proven, scalable renewable energy solutions that threaten oil and gas interests that dominate our political process in Pennsylvania.”
You often hear about ‘green’ or ‘gray’ or ‘blue’ hydrogen, and there are many more colors which refer to the various feedstocks and methods of production used to produce hydrogen. In addition to how it is produced, there is the question of how it is used. Hydrogen industry analyst Michael Liebreich has created a chart rating hydrogen uses along with competing energy sources via a 'hydrogen ladder'. The uses are rated from uncompetitive to unavoidable and there are very few that he evaluates as having no real alternative.
Many of the seven DOE funded projects could simply become new markets for methane gas, so we will have to pay close attention and show up for the hearings and rallies. DOE has already hosted informational webinars on each of the Pennsylvania hubs. Scroll down at this link to sign up for ongoing information from DOE.
Following are a few articles that I found very readable and informative:
Is Green Hydrogen an Opportunity or a Distraction for the U.S.?
MACH2 Hydrogen Hub in Philadelphia Area: who’s Involved, how will it work?
High hopes for a smaller but more focused hydrogen economy
This blog was included as part of the November 2023 Sylvanian newsletter. Please click here to check out more articles from this edition!