Hydrogen is not a climate solution. In fact, according to numerous scientific studies, it will make the climate crisis worse. It is one of the false climate solutions being promoted by the fossil fuel dirty energy industry so it can keep doing business as usual. The investment of billions of taxpayer dollars and the creation of more tax subsidies for polluters are diverting resources away from the proven, scalable, available renewable energy solutions that must be deployed to address the climate crisis. STOP developing hydrogen hubs. Go back to the drawing board and pick real clean energy solutions instead.
BACKGROUND
The Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Improvement and Jobs Act have allocated billions of taxpayer dollars and created tax credits to support the creation of a hydrogen economy. They plan to use the public funds to create a hydrogen energy industry by establishing regional “Hubs”, or constellations of business ventures dedicated to hydrogen production, transportation, storage, and consumption. In October 2023, President Biden announced the seven Hubs selected to receive a combined $7 billion.
Today, more than 95% of hydrogen is produced from methane gas using a process called steam methane reforming. Any use of methane is dirty because methane is a highly potent greenhouse gas, 86 times more potent at trapping heat over a 20-year lifetime, than CO2. Because hydrogen can be produced by various methods from different feedstocks, scientists have begun assigning colors to differentiate its many forms. Using methane, usually fracked gas, is referred to as gray hydrogen. Blue hydrogen is gray hydrogen with carbon capture and storage (CCS) added to the process. Pink hydrogen is made from nuclear energy, green made from renewable energy, and orange made from biogas or so-called renewable natural gas (“RNG”)
