February 15, 2022–Sen. Joe Manchin and members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee examined the potential for using hydrogen as a source of clean energy across multiple sectors of the economy, but especially in the transportation sector.
“Clean hydrogen is a versatile fuel that has the potential to significantly decarbonize many sectors of our economy, including the power, transportation, and industrial sectors,” said Manchin, the committee chairman, on Feb. 10. “We’ve made a lot of progress decarbonizing the power sector but the transportation and industrial sectors are harder, and clean hydrogen could be integral to getting at those parts of our economy.”
Industries Impacted
If developed more, hydrogen could impact the shipping and aviation sectors, as well as passenger vehicles, Manchin said.
Others agreed. Jonathan Lewis, director of Transportation Decarbonization for the Clean Air Task Force said that hydrogen offers an “enormous opportunity for decarbonization.” That’s true especially for the following sectors: heavy duty trucking, power, shipping, aviation, and iron making. He further indicated that hydrogen “could contribute to reducing CO2 emissions by a billion metric tons per year or more.”
Challenges: Cost And Fueling It
However, using hydrogen as fuel could cost two-to-six times as much as current production levels, according to Manchin.
The recently enacted Infrastructure Investment And Jobs Act provided billions of support for research and development of hydrogen.
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