What is Hydrogen? Hydrogen is the most abundant chemical element in the universe. It's everywhere. Colourless, odourless, and tasteless, it's 'one of the main compounds of water and organic matter' on Earth but you'll also find it throughout our solar system. Our sun is 91% hydrogen. The stars beyond our galaxy are all made from hydrogen, too. There's no shortage of hydrogen around us. And when you burn hydrogen, it emits water rather than a dangerous by-product like CO2. This makes has clean-energy potential. The problem is that hydrogen on Earth rarely exists in a pure form. It has to be extracted from other energy sources such as fossil fuels. It's this extraction process - the processing of hydrogen from natural gas for example - that creates carbon waste as a by-product. At the moment, around 95% of hydrogen is produced using fossil fuels. For IFL Science, Katie Spalding writes that even though hydrogen is considered to be a clean alternative, it's actually being produced by fossil fuels and, therefore, it's not clean at all. What is Blue Hydrogen? Hydrogen is colourless but different colours are used to describe the ways that it's processed. For example, black hydrogen comes from coal and grey hydrogen comes from natural gas. There's also green hydrogen which is produced using an electrical current to separate hydrogen from water. Electricity that's been generated from a clean source - solar power, hydroelectrical power, wind power, etc - makes the extraction process green. Given the IPCC recent report on climate change and the immediate need to decarbonise economies and industries around the globe, green hydrogen is ideal. But it's not green hydrogen that's making headlines - blue hydrogen is. So Why is Blue Hydrogen Controversial? A recent article published in Energy Science and Engineering claims that blue hydrogen may actually produce more greenhouse gasses. The study was jointly released by Cornell and Stanford Universities. Authors Robert Howarth and Mark Jacobson state that carbon capture will not effectively stop fugitive methane and upstream emissions of carbon dioxide from escaping. They argue that blue hydrogen's carbon footprint could be 20% larger than 'using either natural gas or coal directly for heat, or about 60% greater than using diesel oil for heat'. In short, blue hydrogen could actually be worse for the planet. Howarth goes on to say that it's important that people don't accept the industry's 'tenuous claim' about blue hydrogen's low and zero-emission status. It should also be noted that it's in the gas industry's best interests to push for blue hydrogen. After all, it allows companies to continue producing fossil fuels albeit under the banner of an 'eco-friendlier approach'. This would be a tremendous example of greenwashing. And that's a fair criticism. Whilst we're all being encouraged to lead eco-friendlier lifestyles and to turn our houses into environmentally-friendly homes, the truth is that much of the heavy lifting has to be done at the top. We already know that there are 100 companies responsible for 71% of global greenhouse gas emissions. This list includes major gas companies. And whilst companies (even natural gas suppliers) should be encouraged to adapt, any changes must be for the better. If blue hydrogen can't help to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, governments should not be investing so much time and money into supporting it. The IPCC report was very clear. We have a limited window in which to reduce the impact that human activity is having on rising global temperature. Inside the report were 5 scenarios ranging from best to worst-case. The IPCC's worst-case scenario has been described by several journalists as being 'apocalyptic'. All we have to do to get to it is produce as much greenhouse gas as we are now. Blue hydrogen, therefore, now has quite a few people worried. Why Blue Hydrogen Could Be Useful in the Short Term Grey hydrogen costs around a dollar per kilogram Blue hydrogen is around $3 per kilogram And green more than $4 per kilogram. Green hydrogen can't meet global power needs. It is why blue hydrogen is so appealing to those within the gas industry and outside it. But is it really the answer? And what if it actually makes everything worse? Of course, blue hydrogen isn't the only way of generating energy. At Energym we've been designing and developing electricity-generating indoor bikes for homes and commercial gyms. You can also find out more about our offerings for office spaces and hotels.