As the case for Climate Change mitigation becomes ever more pressing, hydrogen has the potential to play a major role in a low-carbon energy future. Hydrogen can drive the vehicles of tomorrow and also heat homes and supply energy to businesses. Much recent discussion in energy policy circles has considered ways in which greatly expanded electrification can meet the demand for low-carbon mobility and heating. Such narratives centre on the widespread use of renewable energy sources with occasionally surplus renewable electricity being used to produce hydrogen, for example by electrolysis. While such developments have a beneficial role to play, this book focuses on an alternative paradigm. This book considers a more evolutionary path involving the continued extraction and use of fossil fuels, most notably natural gas, but in ways that greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In this way much established industrial capacity and know how might be transitioned to help deliver the low carbonfuture that the world so desperately requires.

Presenting up-to-date energy policy recommendations with a focus on hydrogen from fossil fuels, the book will be of considerable interest to policymakers and energy researchers in academia, industry and government labs, while also offering a valuable reference guide for business developers in low-carbon energy, and for oil and gas industry analysts.

Autorentext

William Nuttall is a technology and policy specialist with particular expertise in energy systems. He brings an expert technical perspective to complex policy problems, and is a research leader with professional connections in academia, government, learned societies, international organisations and industry. Nuttall is a Professor of Energy at The Open University, based in Milton Keynes, UK. He is also a fellow of Hughes Hall, a college of Cambridge University. Adetokunboh Bakenne is an experienced engineering researcher and consultant. He obtained his PhD from the University of Manchester,where he investigated the mechanical properties of engineering materials used in the energy industries. He then shifted his focus to matters of energy technology and policy with his move to The Open University, where he worked as a research fellow on the future of the hydrogen economy. Bakenne has extensive consultancy experience in matters concerning commercial technology assessment and engineering risk assessment in a range of sectors.

Inhalt

Introduction: The Hydrogen Economy Today.- Hydrogen and The Future: Energy and Mobility.- Stem Methane Reforming: A Technology with a Bright Future.- Partial Oxidation Technologies.- Carbon Monoxide: Molecular Building Block.- Three Case Studies I: USA Gulf of Mexico A Centre of Hydrogen Infrastructure.- Three Case Studies II: UK: Proposed Natural Gas to Hydrogen Transition.- Three Case Studies III: Poland and the Future for Coal in Europe.- Conclusions.