2022-6-13 SIerra club listserv commentary (role of hydroggen (+ thoughts on RNG)

With regard to the climate impacts of leaked hydrogen, that research continues to discuss the 100-year GWP of hydrogen. However, EDF scientists are working on research on the 10- and 20-year GWP of hydrogen, which is far higher (Ilissa B. Ocko & Steven P. Hamburg, Climate consequences of hydrogen leakage, Atmospheric Chemistry & Physics (preprint, discussion started Feb. 18, 2022), available at https://acp.copernicus.org/preprints/acp-2022-91/acp-2022-91.pdf). 

From a climate perspective, it's also critical to consider how the hydrogen is produced. E.g., Howarth & Jacobson, How green is blue hydrogen? Energy Sci. & Eng’r (July 2021), available at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ese3.956. (Spoiler: Blue hydrogen and gray hydrogen are worse than gas).

ps Thanks to Deb for flagging this new research on hydrogen. This article is a good summary, and this Bloomberg story is a little more comprehensive. The gist is - hydrogen doesn’t trap heat directly, the way CO₂ does. Instead, when leaked it sets off a series of chemical reactions that warm the air, acting as an indirect greenhouse gas. Which means, adding hydrogen to millions of miles of leaky gas pipelines, as proposed by the gas industry, is NOT a good idea for the climate.

Jessica Tritsch <jessica.tritsch@sierraclub.org> wrote: This is a very helpful resource in breaking down why hydrogen and biogas/RNG are false solutions for powering our buildings. Here are my favorites:

• Heating NY's buildings with green hydrogen would require about 4.4 times as much clean electricity as heating directly with a heat pump. Heat pumps are a much more efficient use of resources.
• Adding hydrogen and biogas to pipes is impractical and expensive! Hydrogen can only be added to pipes at low % or it can lead to pipe embrittlement. To accomodate more hydrogen we'd have to replace New York's 22,000 miles of steel or cast-iron pipes plus millions of gas appliances that aren't currently built to burn hydrogen. For context, Con Edison has proposed spending $1.3 billion in 2023–2025 to replace just 255 miles of leak-prone pipe.   
• Widespread use of hydrogen for home heating would mean a major increase in energy bills for New York residents. Green hydrogen is expensive.
• One study has shown that the NOx emissions resulting from burning green hydrogen can be up to six times the amount released from burning methane. 

On Wed, Jun 8, 2022 at 9:31 AM Hannah Birnbaum <hannah.birnbaum@sierraclub.org> wrote:
Wanted to pass along a very useful research brief that RMI put together about the limited role for hydrogen and RNG in buildings in NY. We've found this to be a really helpful, accessible tool and thought it might be a useful example for other states where similar debates about low carbon fuels vs electrification are playing out. 

https://rmi.org/low-carbon-fuels-have-a-limited-role-to-play-in-new-yorks-buildings/

We worked closely with RMI on this, so also happy to answer any questions!

With regard to the climate impacts of leaked hydrogen, that research continues to discuss the 100-year GWP of hydrogen. However, EDF scientists are working on research on the 10- and 20-year GWP of hydrogen, which is far higher (Ilissa B. Ocko & Steven P. Hamburg, Climate consequences of hydrogen leakage, Atmospheric Chemistry & Physics (preprint, discussion started Feb. 18, 2022), available at https://acp.copernicus.org/preprints/acp-2022-91/acp-2022-91.pdf). 

From a climate perspective, it's also critical to consider how the hydrogen is produced. E.g., Howarth & Jacobson, How green is blue hydrogen? Energy Sci. & Eng’r (July 2021), available at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ese3.956. (Spoiler: Blue hydrogen and gray hydrogen are worse than gas). 

On Fri, Jun 10, 2022 at 5:38 PM Jessica Tritsch <jessica.tritsch@sierraclub.org> wrote:
ps Thanks to Deb for flagging this new research on hydrogen. This article is a good summary, and this Bloomberg story is a little more comprehensive.

The gist is - hydrogen doesn’t trap heat directly, the way CO₂ does. Instead, when leaked it sets off a series of chemical reactions that warm the air, acting as an indirect greenhouse gas. Which means, adding hydrogen to millions of miles of leaky gas pipelines, as proposed by the gas industry, is NOT a good idea for the climate.

On Fri, Jun 10, 2022 at 4:16 PM Jessica Tritsch <jessica.tritsch@sierraclub.org> wrote:
Thanks, Hannah and the NY team!

This is a very helpful resource in breaking down why hydrogen and biogas/RNG are false solutions for powering our buildings. Here are my favorites:

• Heating NY's buildings with green hydrogen would require about 4.4 times as much clean electricity as heating directly with a heat pump. Heat pumps are a much more efficient use of resources.
• Adding hydrogen and biogas to pipes is impractical and expensive! Hydrogen can only be added to pipes at low % or it can lead to pipe embrittlement. To accomodate more hydrogen we'd have to replace New York's 22,000 miles of steel or cast-iron pipes plus millions of gas appliances that aren't currently built to burn hydrogen. For context, Con Edison has proposed spending $1.3 billion in 2023–2025 to replace just 255 miles of leak-prone pipe.   
• Widespread use of hydrogen for home heating would mean a major increase in energy bills for New York residents. Green hydrogen is expensive.
• One study has shown that the NOx emissions resulting from burning green hydrogen can be up to six times the amount released from burning methane. 

Hannah Birnbaum <hannah.birnbaum@sierraclub.org> wrote:
Wanted to pass along a very useful research brief that RMI put together about the limited role for hydrogen and RNG in buildings in NY. We've found this to be a really helpful, accessible tool and thought it might be a useful example for other states where similar debates about low carbon fuels vs electrification are playing out.  https://rmi.org/low-carbon-fuels-have-a-limited-role-to-play-in-new-yorks-buildings/ We worked closely with RMI on this, so also happy to answer any questions!