The Blue Hydrogen Bubble Must Burst
There is a great deal of hype trumpeting the potential for hydrogen made from green electricity to serve as the Swiss Army knife of clean energy, but it is so-called “blue hydrogen” made with fossil fuels that is striding onto center stage. That’s understandable, as green hydrogen is not remotely price competitive, and producing it requires lots of green electricity, which is currently not available at that scale.
As Robin Gaster writes for RealClearEnergy, in order for blue hydrogen to decarbonize hard-to-reach sectors like aviation, heavy trucks, shipping, steel, and cement, blue hydrogen must slash costs and effectively capture and either store or use the carbon that’s generated. Both are daunting challenges.
