Infrastructure update: Our hydrogen future

By Agnieszka Krzyzaniak and Mark Stewart 2021-04-19T05:00:00

Source: Shutterstock

Interest in green hydrogen has escalated rapidly, so what are the benefits and challenges of this highly sustainable energy technology and what would a hydrogen revolution mean for the built environment?

01 / Introduction

There’s a big buzz around hydrogen in 2021. So far, we have heard about this emerging energy source from UK prime minister Boris Johnson, US president Joe Biden and first vice-president of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, not to mention representatives from businesses such as BP, Shell and Total.

Green hydrogen was named among the World Economic Forum’s top 10 “most exciting technologies” to have emerged in 2020, and Bloomberg predicts hydrogen could meet up to 24% of the world’s energy needs by 2050, creating a market worth $600bn. Elon Musk, who has so far expressed a sceptical view on hydrogen fuel cells, has been called on by Forbes to repent.

Actions speak louder than words, though, and indeed there have recently been multiple developments in the hydrogen arena, with both the EU and the US Department of Energy publishing their own hydrogen strategies.

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