Can existing hydrogen technologies help us achieve net-zero by 2050? Through his research, Dr. Thomas Tonon provides a technical and economic analysis of a US energy economy powered by renewables, using existing hydrogen technologies. Tonon considers the 2022 energy requirements of each major sector of the US economy – including industry, transportation, commercial, and residential. Through detailed calculations, Tonon creates a complete green energy infrastructure that replaces virtually all fossil fuel and nuclear supply. Read More
In this hypothetical green energy economy, the default scenario considers equal apportionment of solar and wind generation, with onshore wind generation equal to offshore wind generation. Many other scenarios are also considered, using a wide range of different apportionments.
Excess energy generation is used to produce hydrogen and oxygen through water electrolysis using electrolyzers, which is stored in large-scale facilities for later usage when demand exceeds generation. Hydrogen is then used directly in industry, or in fuel cells to satisfy electric demand.
These novel buried-surface storage facilities consist of commercially available high-pressure gas storage vessels for hydrogen, with the option to also store oxygen. These facilities are located wherever convenient and economical. Within the system, all time scales of energy storage are addressed, including short-term, long-term, and seasonal. Enhanced gridlines and hydrogen pipelines transmit and distribute energy.
To address energy generation that fluctuates seasonally, the system generates 20% more energy on average than the total US energy demand in 2022 – greatly reducing seasonal storage requirements and ensuring that hydrogen energy reserves are constantly replenished.
For the default energy apportionment, solar and onshore wind farms require 1.6% the land area of the ‘lower 48’ states, and offshore wind farms require 2.4% of that area. Installation costs for the entire energy infrastructure total 27.7 trillion US dollars.
Importantly, Tonon addresses only a direct replacement of the 2022 infrastructure, without considering energy conservation, energy cost savings by not mining fossil fuels, and improved energy efficiencies. Such considerations could reduce the required infrastructure by approximately 30%, reducing the actual installation costs to under 20 trillion, or approximately 800 billion per year if the roadmap deadline is 2050.
Tonon’s results provide governments with useful and realistic guidance on how a decarbonized economy could be achieved using existing technology. Tonon’s approach is a top-down systems approach, which is the approach taken for most engineering solutions, such as the US project to put a man on the moon, and the national security imperative to build the war machine for world war II. It brings the net zero goal one step closer to reality.
