DOE advisory panel offers ‘sobering’ view on hydrogen – E&E.
A Department of Energy advisory committee said Tuesday that the nascent “clean” hydrogen industry is not growing fast enough to meet U.S. climate goals, a conclusion that Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm called “sobering.”
According to a new report from the National Petroleum Council (NPC), the hydrogen industry won’t generate enough supply and demand for the emerging low-to-zero carbon fuel to help the U.S. achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 under current federal policies.
The council makes recommendations to the Energy secretary on oil and natural gas issues. NPC’s hydrogen report was released Tuesday along with another report from the council focused on reducing U.S. natural gas supply chain emissions.
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It found that under an existing policies path, where current policies and regulatory actions are implemented, a 59 percent reduction in methane emissions from America’s natural gas supply chain can be achieved by 2050 — but that carbon dioxide emissions would go up by 25 percent because under the current pathway CO2 isn’t prioritized to the same degree as methane.
In the reports, NPC calls for policymakers to help facilitate hydrogen production and sales, while seeking improved efforts to curb emissions from the production and delivery of natural gas.
Granholm requested the studies in two separate letters to the NPC: first, in November 2021 — asking the council to conduct a study “on the deployment of low and zero carbon hydrogen energy at scale” — and then in April 2022, requesting a study “that defines pathways” for reducing greenhouse gas emissions across the U.S. natural gas value chain.
David Turk, Deputy Energy Secretary, said Tuesday:
Hydrogen is “one of those sectors and technologies that is not on track” to meet net-zero goals.
But that “doesn’t mean we’re not making progress,” he added.
The NPCvoted Tuesday to approve the studies on hydrogen and reducing emissions from U.S. natural gas, providing both industries — as well as public officials and advocacy groups — with a range of recommendations intended to curb carbon dioxide and methane emissions and bolster hydrogen production.
The NPC has more than 200 members, primarily from the oil and gas industry, as well as some electric companies, research groups and academic institutions.
The studies come as the White House has directed $8 billion in 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law funding toward regional “clean” hydrogen hubs to attract even greater private investment and as the administration continues to roll out regulations that go after emissions of methane — a potent greenhouse gas — from the U.S. oil and gas sector.
In remarks to the NPC on Tuesday, Granholm said that some people may prefer to stick to the energy “status quo” and may “think that a fight is more productive than progress.” She said the Biden administration doesn’t see it that way, adding that “hopefully” members of the NPC don’t either.
A DOE spokesperson did not return a request for comment Tuesday on how Granholm defines the energy “status quo.”
Granholm, said:
Because we all know this — that in five years or 10 years, 20 years, the energy status quo is going to be obsolete.
“For those who are proclaiming the future with certainty, I think a little humility is in order.”
While “secure supplies of traditional energy” will still be needed, Granholm said, “consumers and communities and countries and investors who…
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