Inspenet, October 16, 2023.
Joe Biden plans to announce an investment of up to $7 billion for hydrogen projects in the United States as part of a competition aimed at promoting the production of this resource in the country.
The financing will be allocated to so-called hydrogen centers, places where gas can be produced and used, with the aim of highlighting its potential as a carbon- free energy source to supply factories and electric power plants. According to a report released earlier this year by the Department of Energy, it is estimated that hydrogen production in the United States could increase up to 10 million metric tons by 2030 .
Representatives from the White House and the Department of Energy did not immediately issue statements. However, one person, who preferred to remain anonymous when discussing internal deliberations, warned that Biden’s agenda could undergo changes as the administration’s response to the Hamas attack on Israel evolves.
Hydrogen and the environment
The Biden administration has argued that hydrogen is a necessity to meet its environmental goals and has launched an initiative to reduce costs, one of the main obstacles to its widespread adoption, by 80%, with the goal of reach a price of just 1 dollar per kilogram by 2030.
“Clean hydrogen faces a series of unprecedented challenges, such as cost and business models”said Alex Kizer, senior vice president of the Energy Futures Initiative, a Washington nonprofit. “Centers can act as engines to launch the way to solve these types of challenges”.
However, not everyone shares the same opinion on the matter. Those who oppose it argue that, although hydrogen represents an energy source for combustion without significant emissions, its production process demands a considerable amount of energy, and when produced using electricity derived from coal or natural gas, its environmental impact in terms of carbon emissions is greater.
“ We don’t want billions of our taxes to be spent on increasing emissions and environmental damage ,” said Lukas Ross, program director at the environmental group Friends of the Earth.
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