About green hydrogen

What is green hydrogen?

Various types of hydrogen, often referred to as 'hydrogen fuel', are being produced in Norway today. From personal use in cars to major industries, this invisible energy carrier can be used to move us forward. But what exactly is hydrogen, what is green hydrogen and how is the innovation sector built around it? Here we will clarify some of the key questions.

A valuable energy carrier

Hydrogen (H2) is thet lightest and therefore the most common element in the universeand. Because of its its composition it was formerly called 'hydrogen'. Hydrogen does not exist independently from other substances in nature and therefore needs to be produced. There are different ways to produce hydrogen. Nne of them are more environmentally friendly than others and thus better adapted for everyday life in a future righta world.

Pure energy carrier creates energy change

Even though hydrogen is an invisible gas, we usually use three colours with reference to how hydrogen is produced

  • Grey hydrogen: Grey hydrogen is formed from burning fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) without capture of greenhouse gasses which is a biproduct in the process. Grey hydrogen is the most common way of producing hydrogen today, however this production creates large emissions and are not environmentally friendly.
  • Blue hydrogen:Blue hydrogen is produced in steam reforming (chemical reaction between hydrocarbons and fossil fuels) of coal, oil and natural gas. In the process, hydrogen is generated in addition to carbon dioxide. Blue hydrogen can be described as "low-carbon hydrogen", but the formation of greenhouse gases is not avoided, and it is necessary to capture and store these gases. 
  • Green hydrogen: This is produced through electrolysis (electrochemical reaction to divide water into components of hydrogen and oxygen) of renewable energy sources, such as solar, water or wind power. This is a zero emission alternative to gray hydrogen and we do not need carbon capture or storage as blue carbon requires.

 

The goal must be to replace gray hydrogen with green or blue hydrogen, which are the more environmentally friendly alternatives. HYDS focuses on an efficient and scalable production of green hydrogen or also called "clean hydrogen", leading to a more innovative use of hydrogen.

What is green hydrogen used for?

First and foremost, more efficient production of green hydrogen will lead to decarbonisation of various sectors such as industry, mobility, energy storage. 

Industry 

For industrial processes hydrogen is seen as a replacement of conventional energy sources
Most industrial processes uses energy, and hydrogen as an energy carrier is seen as a powerful replacement for environmentally unfriendly energy sources such as natural gas, oil and coal. Green hydrogen is the zero emission alternative. 

Mobility 

Hydrogen cars are not a rarity, but the habit on the Norwegian streets and the international mobile sector is constantly expanding the supply of hydrogen-powered vehicles. Both the private sector and public institutions have begun to decarbonise their modes of transport. Innovations have recently also reached heavy commercial vehicles such as trucks and ships.

Energy storage 

Green hydrogen is the solution to one of our major energy problems – the unreliability of natural energy sources. When the wind does not blow, there is no wind energy, when the sun does not shine, there is no solar energy. Green hydrogen, which is made from solar, wind or hydropower, is a way of storing excess energy. 

Innovation sector around green hydrogen

Norway has been good in recent years in increasing the production of green hydrogen. Reduced costs by producing it using renewable energy, together with a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, have given clean hydrogen an unprecedented boost. A shift to renewable energy creates greater opportunities to produce cheaper green hydrogen. There is still a challenge in dispensing and bunkering the totally climate-neutral energy carrier. 

Read more about how HYDS’ works to make the production of green hydrogen scalable and make it available to the market.