Hydrogen Fuel - Generating and burning Hydrogen Fuel is a relatively new technology. Using Hydrogen sounds great because burning it doesn’t create emissions. However, producing Hydrogen creates carbon dioxide and methane emissions.
Several bills were signed into law this year that will promote Hydrogen Fuel manufacturing and use.
SB1190 - Allowing state board of Career and Technology Education to establish courses in hydrogen energy and consult with Dept of Commerce and Dept of Labor in establishing courses.
SB1197 - Exempts hydrogen storage tank systems from the Petroleum Storage Tank Consolidation Act
SB1853 - Sets a hydrogen fuel production goal of Two Million Metric Tons by 2028. That’s probably good but it explicitly allows natural gas and methane as hydrogen sources.
SB1855 - Alternative Fuels Technician Certification Act; modifying equipment and facilities under Department authority. Gives Labor Dept rights to access and inspect hydrogen fueling stations.
SB1856 - Directing Secretary of Energy and Environment to create grant program subject to Legislative appropriation. This would be for sequestering carbon from production of hydrogen from natural gas. Probably not something the public should pay for.
SB1857 - Income tax credit; extending credit for qualified clean-burning vehicles; providing credit for hydrogen fuel cells. The "clean-burning" vehicles referred to are CNG, LNG and LPG. This adds hydrogen. The credits are for conversion and fueling equipment costs. The bill does include $10M in credits for metered public electric charging stations. So it's a mixed bag.
Did you know about Hydrogen’s Dirty Secret? Currently more than 99% of the US annual supply of hydrogen is produced from fossil fuels through “steam methane reforming”.
Hydrogen is classified into three types based on how it is produced.
- Green hydrogen is produced by splitting water into its hydrogen and oxygen components through electrolysis powered by renewable energy. Only a minute fraction of current hydrogen production is Green.
- Grey and Blue hydrogen are created from methane gas, with a byproduct of carbon dioxide; Blue hydrogen includes a process to capture some of the resulting carbon dioxide.
- Even with carbon capture and sequestration, blue hydrogen made from natural gas produces more emissions than burning natural gas alone at a power plant.
- Often the emissions of carbon dioxide and methane resulting from the energy used to produce the electricity for the carbon capture equipment are ignored
- We have learned that natural gas production and transportation leaks considerable methane, which has more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide in the first 20 years it reaches the atmosphere. Because of these problems with gray and blue hydrogen, The Sierra Club only supports the use of green hydrogen.
