New report highlights many unknowns in inexperienced hydrogen plans throughout California – Uplaza

Officers all through the state of California have developed plans to start out deploying inexperienced hydrogen at scale within the coming decade as a way to attain California’s 2045 local weather neutrality targets. A brand new evaluation, printed by scientists at PSE Wholesome Vitality, finds that whereas sure purposes of inexperienced hydrogen could current alternatives to decrease greenhouse gasoline emissions, many challenges stay and misalignments between present proposals might undermine progress towards state local weather targets.

“Many state and local agencies are counting on massive build outs of green hydrogen infrastructure in the coming decades to achieve their climate targets,” stated PSE Wholesome Vitality Scientist Bethany Kwoka. “But without coordination between decision makers, communities, and industry we could see overwhelming demand that ultimately undermines energy security and reliability.”

The report, “Green Hydrogen Proposals Across California,” identifies alternatives, challenges, and dangers related to a number of proposed power transition plans, together with the California Air Sources Board’s 2022 Scoping Plan, the Los Angeles Division of Water and Energy’s Strategic Lengthy Time period Sources Plan, and the Alliance for Renewable Clear Hydrogen Vitality Programs hydrogen hub. Primarily based on these plans, the researchers analyzed the implications of a broad vary of proposed purposes, with a selected emphasis on the power inputs required to supply hydrogen and the local weather, environmental, and public well being dimensions related to its manufacturing and use.

“While hydrogen may make sense for certain hard-to-electrify applications, many of the uses currently being proposed have more efficient alternatives,” stated PSE Senior Scientist Boris Lukanov. “Blending hydrogen into existing gas pipelines, for instance, provides minimal climate benefits and has potential safety risks. If the goal is to decarbonize home heating, heat pumps are a safer and more cost-effective alternative, as they require roughly one-fifth the renewable electricity to deliver the same amount of heat.”

Primarily based on their evaluation, PSE researchers suggest that planners and decisionmakers higher characterize the system-wide impacts, each constructive and detrimental, of hydrogen deployment situations and options earlier than quickly increasing hydrogen infrastructure within the state.

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PSE Wholesome Vitality