Hydrogen and energy have enjoyed an intertwined relationship for a long time. Hydrogen powered the first internal combustion engine slightly over 200 years ago. Since then, it has become a critical part of modern industries.
Hydrogen is like a few other gasses: It is light, does not produce direct emissions, is energy dense, and is comparatively easy to produce. However, today, for hydrogen gas to make a significant contribution to our green economy, it needs to be adopted in sectors where it is nearly absent. These sectors of interest include power generation, transportation, building heating, and industrial process heating. After all, these are our biggest polluters. But for this to happen, hydrogen production, transportation, and storage costs need to be lower.
The future of hydrogen gas lies in the development and proliferation of distributed clean hydrogen. However, it is essential to lay out how things currently stand in the United States to understand if we are on the right path toward building a clean hydrogen economy. Most of all, we need to ensure that we are moving in a direction away from an indefinite reliance on burning fossil fuels.