Hydrogen emerges from the shadows

As costs fall, a third energy source will join wind and solar in transitioning the world from fossil fuels to renewable energy

- Max Riaz

After a century in relative obscurity, hydrogen energy is set to step up and -play a critical role in transitioning the global economy's reliance on fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) to a world that runs exclusively on renewable sources, such as wind, solar and, yes, hydrogen.

The hydrogen economy is racing towards mass adoption in the next 10 years as governments declare their visions and outline their road maps.

Suppliers and buyers in the hydrogen ecosystem are forming a queue that is largely dictated by their spot on the falling cost curve. Investors, too, have an important role to play as providers of capital to fuel the nascent hydrogen economy.

How it will work
First, a bit of chemistry. Hydrogen is the first among 118 basic and naturally occurring elements on Earth. At room temperature, it exists as a colourless, odourless and highly combustible gas, but it doesn't just float around in the air.

At room temperature, it usually occurs as a building block of other matter. In fact, 75% of all matter in the universe can thank hydrogen for being one of its ingredients. And each one of us has 10% hydrogen (by mass) in our bodies.

So, hydrogen should not be feared as something foreign and unfamiliar. On Earth, it joins forces with oxygen to form water and many other hydrocarbons. Water has two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen: the hydrogen energy economy sources hydrogen atoms from water molecules through a chemical splitting process called electrolyses.

Hydrogen is infinitely available and is totally renewable and climate friendly. It's not mined like fossil fuels, which leave a scarred landscape and gaseous emissions that are clearly suffocating living beings through pollution and warming the climate to a place where, if not addressed, we will soon reach a point of no return.