Hubs: A step towards a hydrogen future?

In a recipe for a net-zero future, hydrogen is sometimes considered the secret ingredient. A team of Carnegie Mellon researchers is moving beyond the hype to analyze the realities—and risks—of using hydrogen as part of our energy and manufacturing systems.

“Many businesses and communities across the United States are putting their chips on hydrogen hubs,” says Valerie Karplus, a professor of engineering and public policy and associate director of the Scott Institute for Energy Innovation. “To realize their potential, hubs will need to navigate the tricky balance between maintaining the financial incentives necessary for early market development while upholding their commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

In the wake of $8 billion in federal funding that has helped regional stakeholders start up hydrogen hubs across the United States, Karplus and Granger Morgan have summarized the two types of risks associated with early investment in hydrogen systems: economic, that maintaining hubs won’t be financially viable; and environmental, that hubs won’t reduce greenhouse gasses at a sufficient level, or that their use will exacerbate local pollution.

To realize their potential, hubs will need to navigate the tricky balance between maintaining the financial incentives necessary for early market development while upholding their commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Valerie Karplus, Professor, Engineering and Public Policy

Karplus and Morgan, a professor of engineering and public policy, point out that in the effort to curb the effects of climate change, hydrogen offers many advantages, but it is not a panacea. A crucial step to making it a viable energy source is finding a production method that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and has increasingly favorable economics. They suggest that starting with hubs can address many of the economic risks, but regulation is required to address the environmental risks.

“The bottom line is that hydrogen would be very useful if we could get it without environmental consequences,” said Morgan.

Hydrogen can still indirectly contribute to greenhouse warming, putting particular pressure on making sure that transport, storage, and sequestration are handled properly.

“Hydrogen is the lightest molecule, so it leaks very easily,” said Morgan. “Building a hydrogen system that doesn’t leak is really tough and takes a lot of attention.”

As Morgan notes, hydrogen leaks are difficult to detect, and its presence extends the atmospheric lifetime of methane, a greenhouse gas that’s 40 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

Morgan and Karplus’ research, which appears in the journal Risk Analysis, includes a set of design principles to help hydrogen hubs capitalize on their potential.

Recommendations include streamlining of the regulatory requirements for hydrogen hubs, combined with efforts to engage with end users and address their concerns about the social and economic equity of new infrastructure appearing in communities.

Beyond financial viability and climate mitigation, how hydrogen development affects workers and communities will shape its broader growth prospects. A hydrogen economy could provide a new source of employment in parts of the country that are already being hard hit by a decline in manufacturing or fossil energy production, given similarities in skills requirements. At the same time, a shift to hydrogen-based ironmaking processes for steel production could improve air quality and reduce associated negative health impacts to communities.