A research paper by academic from Cornell and Stanford Universities cast doubt on how environmentally friendly ‘blue;’ hydrogen really is.

Most hydrogen is produced by steam reforming of methane in natural gas (‘grey hydrogen’), with high carbon dioxide emissions. Using carbon capture and storage to reduce these emissions, turns ‘grey’ to ‘blue hydrogen’ which is frequently promoted as low emissions. In the first effort in a peer-reviewed paper authors Robert Howarth and Mark Jacobson examine the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of blue hydrogen accounting for emissions of both carbon dioxide and unburned fugitive methane.

The authors conclude that far from being low carbon, greenhouse gas emissions from the production of ‘blue hydrogen’ are high, particularly due to the release of fugitive methane.

They estimate that even in a best-case scenario, using renewable electricity instead of natural gas to power the processes, that there really is no role for blue hydrogen in a carbon-free future. Greenhouse gas emissions remain high, and there would also be a substantial consumption of renewable electricity, which represents an opportunity cost, and that the renewable electricity could be better used by society in other ways, replacing the use of fossil fuels.

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