The actual cost of using green hydrogen, touted as a future low-carbon solution, is at risk of being higher than projected, according to a new study. That would limit its utility to effectively replace fossil fuels.
Significant storage and distribution costs — which are often overlooked by most cost estimates — will likely make hydrogen a “prohibitively expensive abatement strategy across many major sectors,” according to a paper by Harvard University researchers published October 8.
Hydrogen has been pitched as a tool to cut carbon emissions in industries like steelmaking as well as long-distance transport. But many governments and companies are pinning their green goals on the fuel becoming eventually an affordable option to decarbonize.
Currently hydrogen costs $3 to $7 per kilogram. A number of analyses expect that will be cut in half by the end of the decade, and drop fourfold by 2050, which would make it become almost…
