Hydrogen, the most abundant chemical substance in the universe and the fuel of our sun, is an environmentally friendly energy carrier. It is suitable for net-zero energy generation.
The methane molecule (CH
4) consists of one carbon (C) and four hydrogen (H) atoms.
When you turn hydrogen into electricity or heat, the only emission is water.
You can store and transport hydrogen to use it for energy production whenever and wherever you need it. Hydrogen can be transported as a gas or a liquid, or even as ammonia.
Hydrogen can be used to replace coal in many industrial processes, for instance in the steel and cement industries.
In these industrial processes, it is very difficult or even impossible to use electricity to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
For certain applications—refining petroleum, treating metals, producing fertilizer, and processing foods, for instance—hydrogen is a critical raw material.
The use of clean, zero-emission hydrogen helps reduce emissions in decentralized combined heat and power (CHP) production. CHP provides steam to various industry sectors, from food processing to chemical companies.
Today hydrogen demand is almost entirely supplied from fossil fuels using processes that release the CO
2 produced to the atmosphere. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), 6% of global natural gas and 2% of global coal is currently used to produce hydrogen.
As a consequence, the annual production of hydrogen is responsible for emissions of around 830 million tons of CO
2 per year, equivalent to the CO
2 emissions of the United Kingdom and Indonesia combined.