Scientists launch coalition on hydrogen in the energy transition

The Hydrogen Science Coalition has been launched to “bring an evidence-based viewpoint to the heart of the hydrogen discussion”.

The group is comprised of scientists, academics and engineers who say they want to use their collective expertise on a voluntary basis to translate the role that hydrogen can play in the energy transition for politicians, media and investors with the aim to ensure that any public investments in hydrogen reflect the most effective path towards net zero emissions by 2050.

The five founding members are:

• Bernard van Dijk, Airplane performance lecturer at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, whose area of hydrogen expertise is aviation.
• David Cebon, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Cambridge, whose expertise is passenger and long haul freight transport.
• Jochen Bard, Director of the Energy Process Technology Division at Fraunhofer IEE, whose expertise is domestic heating and hydrogen blending with natural gas.
• Tom Baxter, consultant and Visiting Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Strathclyde, whose expertise is hydrogen production, domestic heating and hydrogen blending.
• Paul Martin, Toronto-based consultant in chemical engineering and process development, whose expertise is hydrogen production and transport, hydrogen blending and grey hydrogen.

With their geographical spread, the group intend to focus primarily on UK and European hydrogen policy, volunteering their expertise through briefings, access to data and media events.

“Any decisions to invest public money in hydrogen need to be backed up with facts. Relying only on vested interests to guide the development of a hydrogen sector risks undermining where the evidence tells us hydrogen should play a role,” says Baxter, an ex-BP engineer.

Alongside the launch of the Coalition, the group has published a manifesto highlighting the important role of hydrogen in decarbonising the global economy and with four basic – but given developments already underway arguably debatable – recommendations.

These are:

• Support for green hydrogen as the only true zero-emissions hydrogen made from renewable electricity must be prioritised.
• Green hydrogen should be deployed for hard to decarbonise sectors, starting with where grey hydrogen is used today, such as for chemical feedstocks and steel production.
• Hydrogen should not be used in sectors in which there are cheaper and perhaps more rapidly deployed electrification alternatives, such as in heating and transport.
• With blended hydrogen in the existing natural gas grid likely to have a limited impact on emissions – a maximum 20% green hydrogen blend is expected to save only 7% of emissions – blending does not make sense and is a waste when there are areas that can have significant and immediate reductions.