Climate Protection and Sustainable Mobility through Green Hydrogen

Abstract

Hydrogen as an energy carrier or industrial raw material is of particular importance along the road to a climate-neutral society. No other energy-rich substance is equally well suited to paving the way to sustainability in mobility, heat supply and as a raw material in industrial production. German policymakers are currently focusing on the expansion of renewable power generation and battery-electric vehicles, which are being generously promoted. However, it has long been apparent that direct use of renewable electricity alone is unlikely to defossilize the energy industry. According to current opinion, this can only be achieved with “green”, climate-neutral hydrogen. From today's perspective, hydrogen as a building block for gaseous and liquid energy carriers – as in the power-to-X strategy – is indispensable for all applications in which the direct use of electricity is neither technically or economically possible nor sensible.