Green Hydrogen

I: Imagine Mukesh Ambani comes to your Cabin and asks you whether green hydrogen can replace the current carbon-based fossil fuels.

C: Okay. I'd like to understand what green hydrogen is?

I: Electricity is passed through water to split it. This creates hydrogen. Another thing to keep in mind is that this electricity comes from green sources.

C: Understood. Another thing I'd like to understand is why are we doing this process of using green electricity to produce green hydrogen. If anything, we'll only be losing energy during this entire process.

I: Very interesting question. Glad you asked. Green hydrogen is easier to store and has some more advantages over green electricity.

C: Before diving into the analysis, I'd like to clarify a few points:

I: •Are we considering the entire global market or focusing on specific regions?

C: •Are we looking at all applications of fossil fuels, including transportation, electricity, and industrial processes?

I: •What's our time frame for this analysis?

C: Assume a global perspective, consider all uses of fossil fuels, and focus on the mid-to-long-term horizon.

I: Understood. I’d like to approach this in several steps:

C: 1. Assess the current state of fossil fuels.

I: 2. Green hydrogen overview, including its production methods and costs

C: 3. Analyse the feasibility of green hydrogen as a replacement.

I: 4. Evaluate environmental and social impacts.

C: 5. Identify barriers and challenges.

I: Let’s look at production side

C: Okay. So as far as I understand, we should look into this from the supply side.

I: Our main items required are water and green electricity apart from the infrastructure. I'd like to analyse each of these items.

C: Sure, go ahead

I: When we say we need water for this process, is it a particular type of distilled clean drinkable water or can we also use sea / salty water?

C: We can use any water. There's no issue with that.

I: Okay. So, we have an abundance of water then. That should not be a constraint.

C: The next thing would be green energy.

I: Yes, that's right. We can focus on green energy.

C: So I understand green energy would come from 3 sources. Water, wind and sunlight. We will require turbines, windmill farms, and solar panels.

I: I would like to start with wind energy. Is that okay?

C: Yes sure

I: So, I understand that windmill farms will require a lot of space, capital and wind. So, location is a prime issue.

C: There was a recent study that said that the entire northern India can be powered if we fill the Rajasthan desert with solar panels and windmills. So, I don't think space is a constraint.

I: Okay. Makes sense. The next thing I understand is that these renewable sources of energy are very expensive to setup. So that can be an issue.

C: Correct. Why do you think it is so expensive to set up solar panels?

I: I don't remember the element name, but I do remember that one of the metal raw materials is expensive which drives the cost.

C:  Absolutely right! These are called rare earth metals which are not abundantly available. Hence even if we could afford them, there just aren't enough of them to produce as much electricity to power the entire world. So, you've come to the right conclusion that it's just not possible that they could replace carbon-based fossil fuels.

I: Yes, that makes sense.

C: Why do you think that companies are still trying this even though they know it's not sustainable or achievable?

I: I believe that if they never try it in the real world and purely based on current technology and calculations reject the idea, they will never learn about the intricacies and scope of improvement.

C: Yes. Our chips used in phones have also constantly reduced in size while being able to store more data.

I: Yes! So, I feel that maybe based on current knowledge and technology this is not possible but eventually we will have to once we've finished all our resources. So, investing in R&D in this area will prove to be useful.

C: You're right. It was great talking to you. We can end it here.