Green Hydrogen?

Do you mean green like in pink unicorns or like in red herrings?

I see. As in both.

How Germany’s Hydrogen Boom Stalled – Green hydrogen has the potential to heat millions of homes and keep German industry humming. So far, though, a lack of the environmentally friendly gas and the infrastructure needed to transport it have prevented its wide-scale use.

Welcome to the sobering hydrogen reality. While Germany hopes that it will soon be able to run basement gas heating systems on hydrogen, steel manufacturers are converting their production to the green gas at a cost of billions and energy companies are planning new power plants that will generate electricity from hydrogen, almost everything needed to make the climate-neutral dreams a reality in the near future is still lacking. The environmentally friendly hydrogen is missing, as are the pipeline networks to carry it across the country, not to mention reliable business models.

Green, Blue…

They’re all too yellow to admit that none of this will deliver enough energy in their lifetimes, if ever at all.

Germany and Norway reach blue hydrogen agreement – Germany’s RWE and Norway’s Equinor have agreed to supply Germany with low-emissions hydrogen fuel. The long-term plan is to provide 100% cleanly sourced green hydrogen.

What is blue hydrogen? For years, the prospect of clean hydrogen fuel — which emits mostly water vapor when burned — has excited those hoping to abandon fossil fuels.

However, the production of completely clean “green” hydrogen, which is separated from water with power generated by clean renewables such as solar and wind, is not currently viable at a large scale.

The alternative “blue” hydrogen, which is produced by burning gas, remains a cheaper option and aims to capture and store more than 95% of emissions.

Saudi Arabian Sleeze Not So Sleezy After All

When trying to wiggle your way out of your self-imposed energy dependency on Russia.

Don’t get me wrong. Germans are very concerned about Saudi Arabia’s human rights record. Very concerned. Or they were. Up until very recently.

Germany’s Scholz in Saudi Arabia as Gas Crunch Bites Economy – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz looked Saturday to secure more energy supplies, meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman to discuss future cooperation, including on hydrogen imports, as Europe’s largest economy struggles with fallout from the Russia-Ukraine war.

Talks between the two leaders in Jeddah dealt with the relationship between their countries, Scholz said. Germany is seeking to import “large amounts of hydrogen” amid a push to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions, he said.