Japan was the first country in the world to draw up a hydrogen strategy in 2017. It aims to cut emissions by 46 per cent by 2030, and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
Developing green hydrogen
Hydrogen produces steam when burned, but its green credentials depend on how it is produced. Made from coal or natural gas it emits CO2, which can be captured and stored.
At the Fukushima Hydrogen Energy Research Field – FH2R – one of the world’s largest facilities of its type, they make ‘green hydrogen’.
To produce green hydrogen, electricity from renewables is used to electrolyse water, separating the oxygen and hydrogen. It neither uses, nor emits, CO2. Hydrogen has been used in fuel cell vehicles and homes for more than a decade but could play a larger role in any future energy mix.
Ways to make hydrogen afforable
One way of lowering the price is to increase production abroad – that means more hydrogen available for import.
“We believe that it (the price reduction) could be resolved not only with one solution, but with many different approaches. For example, introducing more efficient technologies and generating economies of scale. It is also important to create demand for hydrogen. We also need to reduce the price and costs of electricity from renewable energies,” Eiji says.
More general information can be found in the image attached