Green Hydrogen: Resources Consumption, Technological Maturity, and Regulatory Framework

Jesús Rey (), Francisca Segura () and José Manuel Andújar
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Jesús Rey: Research Centre on Technology, Energy and Sustainability (CITES), Campus La Rábida, University of Huelva, Avenida de las Artes, 21007 Huelva, Spain
Francisca Segura: Research Centre on Technology, Energy and Sustainability (CITES), Campus La Rábida, University of Huelva, Avenida de las Artes, 21007 Huelva, Spain
José Manuel Andújar: Research Centre on Technology, Energy and Sustainability (CITES), Campus La Rábida, University of Huelva, Avenida de las Artes, 21007 Huelva, Spain

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 17, 1-29

Abstract: Current climate crisis makes the need for reducing carbon emissions more than evident. For this reason, renewable energy sources are expected to play a fundamental role. However, these sources are not controllable, but depend on the weather conditions. Therefore, green hydrogen (hydrogen produced from water electrolysis using renewable energies) is emerging as the key energy carrier to solve this problem. Although different properties of hydrogen have been widely studied, some key aspects such as the water and energy footprint, as well as the technological development and the regulatory framework of green hydrogen in different parts of the world have not been analysed in depth. This work performs a data-driven analysis of these three pillars: water and energy footprint, technological maturity, and regulatory framework of green hydrogen technology. Results will allow the evaluation of green hydrogen deployment, both the current situation and expectations. Regarding the water footprint, this is lower than that of other fossil fuels and competitive with other types of hydrogen, while the energy footprint is higher than that of other fuels. Additionally, results show that technological and regulatory framework for hydrogen is not fully developed and there is a great inequality in green hydrogen legislation in different regions of the world.

Keywords: green hydrogen; water footprint; energy footprint; TRL of hydrogen technologies; green hydrogen regulatory framework; green hydrogen guarantees of origin (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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