MAKING INDIA A GREEN HYDROGEN POWER

The world is fuelled 85 per cent by oil, coal and natural gas. Earth has harbored a significant amount of fossil fuel which has been commercialized since the Industrial Revolution. 

- PAROMITA GUPTA

However, everything has a limit and so do fossil fuels. Decarbonizing the planet by 2050 has become an immediate priority for nations. The Paris Agreement, adopted by 196 nations in 2015, aimed at holding "the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels" with efforts "to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels." The agreement is said to be a landmark for the climate change process. However, not much has been achieved with the nations being far off the course. Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere states that oil will end by 2052, gas by 2060, and coal by 2090. In times like this, green hydrogen is emanating as the fuel of the future and for all the right reasons.

WHAT IS GREEN HYDROGEN?

When electricity is generated from renewable sources such as wind and solar and passes through an electrolyzer splitting fresh water into oxygen and hydrogen, we get green hydrogen. While it is one of the cleanest forms of energy, its production is abysmally low. As of 2018, only 0.4 per cent of global hydrogen production was produced renewably. But with a process called electrolysis, the percentage can increase drastically.

According to Deloitte Global's report "Green hydrogen: Energizing the path to net zero", 15 to 30 per cent of future energy is likely to be satisfied by hydrogen, particularly green hydrogen. The industries that are expected to benefit the most from green hydrogen as an energy source include fertilizers, refining, methanol, maritime shipping, iron, steel, and transportation.

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