The United States Department of Energy is making a big bet on low emission hydrogen production.
What’s happening:
- The Department of Energy will make several hydrogen hubs in the United States eligible for up to $7B in government funding
- The United States government is aiming to accelerate innovation in producing low emission hydrogen to get closer to net zero emissions
Why it matters:
- Green hydrogen has become a popular trend in venture capital amid excitement around the energy transition
- Hydrogen is notoriously used for treating metals, producing chemicals such as fertilizer and other that create vast amounts of carbon dioxide
- The new funding will help create an enormous amount of new jobs for United States hydrogen companies
Going deeper:
- The new funding is part of a larger plan to get dozens of companies cooperating together to produce hydrogen across regional networks
- Hydrogen is a clean burning source of power but it’s traditionally made through leveraging electricity or coal which has a large carbon footprint
By the numbers:
- The entire new project is expected to be able to collectively produce 3M metric tons of hydrogen per year
- Across the entire network of hydrogen producers it is expected that there could be a 25M metric ton reduction in carbon emissions from end uses each year
- The new funding will span across projects involving Amazon, Exxon Mobil and others in 16 different States
