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https://reneweconomy.com.au/hydrogen-expert-says-blending-green-fuel-into-gas-network-an-expensive-waste/>
"South Australia’s experiment with blending five per cent hydrogen into its
household gas network in Adelaide is a “waste of precious renewable energy,” a
visiting expert has said.
Cambridge Professor, and co-founder of the Hydrogen Science Coalition, David
Cebon, says using expensive green hydrogen for domestic use will prolong
Australia’s dependency on gas instead of speeding up the transition to
renewable energy.
“Hydrogen is not just expensive, it is also unable to be pumped into the gas
network at any more than about 20 per cent, meaning that it prolongs household
dependency on a fossil fuel,” he says.
“Studies also show that injecting 20 per cent of hydrogen into existing gas
pipelines will only save around 7 per cent of carbon emissions.”
Green hydrogen is made using electricity, a process that is extremely energy
hungry. Many experts believe its application will be reserved for ammonia, some
hard to abate industries, and niche uses, but the gas industry is keen to
absorb and include hydrogen to protect their investments in networks of gas
pipelines.
Others, including Cebon, suggest it would be a lot cheaper to support
households to electrify their homes for heating, cooking and cooling rather
than adding the extra step of making hydrogen.
“Those solar panels currently being used to produce hydrogen for homes in
Mitchell Park would provide far more energy if they were simply providing
electricity,” Cebon says.
“Green hydrogen will be essential for industrial processes like fertiliser, for
which there are no clean alternatives, and steelmaking.
“It is a scarce and precious resource. We shouldn’t be wasting it on things
like hot water and cooking, when we can use cheap and abundant renewable energy
for this.”
He says green hydrogen should be saved for high value applications where there
are no alternatives, such as fertiliser, or for shipping and aviation where
electrification is likely to be impossible."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
