The Nuclear Hydrogen Initiative Says Nuclear Hydrogen is a Critical Climate Solution

Source: The Nuclear Hydrogen Initiative Says Nuclear Hydrogen is a Critical Climate Solution

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There’s no question hydrogen is useful stuff. Lots of it is used to make ammonia for fertilizer. And we have noted before that an ammonia economy might make more sense than a hydrogen economy since it is easier to store and transport, and can be put directly into internal combustion engines. It can be used in industrial processes for heat and in steelmaking to replace coal. But in all the other hydrogen uses and many of the ammonia uses, chemical batteries have eaten fuel cells’ lunch. And really, power generation? Nobody is going to make hydrogen with electricity just to turn it back into electricity.

So why is this happening and why now? Paul Martin is a founding member of the Hydrogen Science Coalition, which provides “clear, unbiased, financially disinterested, science-based advice to government, the media and the general public, in relation to the role of hydrogen in a decarbonized future.” He tells Treehugger:

I don’t think it makes ANY sense to waste nuclear electricity on making hydrogen. Nuclear plants produce dispatchable power already and that is highly useful to the grid. The reason nuclear advocates are reaching for hydrogen is that they know their value proposition is being eaten by allowing solar and wind onto the grid, which are far cheaper than nuclear when they’re available. So whereas it is clear that making hydrogen from intermittent renewables at low capacity factor is not economic, the nuclear people are looking to intermittently make hydrogen from their power when the grid is instead being satisfied with cheaper wind and solar.