Hydrogen is not green, sustainable and low in CO2 per se. In the 350th episode of the podcast, the Federal Government’s hydrogen officer, Stefan Kaufmann, explains the different types of element and clarifies problems: “There are currently very few production plants for green hydrogen, they all have to be built. What we currently have in industrial processes, e.g. in the chemical industry or for the production of fertilizers, is gray hydrogen. However, the production of gray hydrogen using natural gas releases a great deal of CO2 – and that is precisely what we are dealing with want to prevent green hydrogen. It’s now about a transformation: Replace gray hydrogen with green hydrogen, using electrolysis processes. And for that we need a lot of additional renewable energy.”
But there are also other ways of generating hydrogen and the different processes also result in different CO2 emissions and the energy that is required for this: “Green hydrogen, as we also talk about it here in Germany, is just hydrogen out Renewable energies, that’s a clear definition. The pink hydrogen from nuclear energy, more climate-friendly than gray hydrogen (from natural gas).” And if the CO2 does not simply escape during the production of hydrogen, but is stored or even used to produce fuel, then the hydrogen is referred to as “blue”.
Which renewable energy is used where should be looked at individually, Kaufmann advocates. Because: “Fuel cell buses are still significantly more expensive than combustion engine buses, but of course also as electric buses. That’s why you always have to look at mobility where does electric make sense and where does hydrogen make sense. With large machines, with buses who, for example, in my hometown of Stuttgart, drive a lot over hills and valleys, and also drive longer distances in winter, the battery is often not sufficient.For heavy construction machinery and snow groomers, for large excavators, everywhere, an electric motor will probably not work suffice – that’s where a hydrogen combustion engine or the fuel cell is the better option. In a small car, a battery certainly makes more sense.”
In order to reduce the CO2 balance, it will therefore depend on how much green hydrogen Germany can produce. But this in turn requires a lot of renewable energy.
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