The British hydrogen news website Hydrogen View (h2-view.com) announced on 18th August that six HyNet projects have received the go-ahead from the UK Government.
Talk about backing the wrong horse!
Hynet is a major scheme for the English North-West and to a lesser extent North-East Wales, which aims to produce large quantities of hydrogen fuel – but not using renewable energy, which is the truly green route being pursued by nearly every other developed and developing country.
The key Hynet process is catalytic breakdown of fossil fuel natural gas, a highly energy intensive process with only a 70% conversion efficiency – therefore the resulting hydrogen fuel is certainly not zero carbon; indeed I and many others refute the claim that it is low carbon. So, to deliver a given amount of energy using Hynet hydrogen means the UK buying about 40% MORE NATURAL GAS compared with simply burning gas.
‘Ah,’ the Hynet backers say, ‘but despite that huge fuel waste we do better than burning natural gas, because we can capture all the carbon dioxide and bury it underground, where it will be completely safe forever.’
Nothing is completely safe; and should there be a problem out in Liverpool Bay where the CO2 is to be stored at a rate of 10 million tons a year, that lethal heavier-than-air gas could come ashore; and, pretty much whichever way the wind blows, it will pour silently and undetectably (it doesn’t smell) across densely built-up areas…
If you make truly green hydrogen from renewable electricity, not only is there no CO2 to dispose of but the by-product is highly valuable zero emission oxygen.
But of course our government must do what is best for oil & gas shareholders, not for the British people or the planet.