The Role of Hydrogen in Decarbonizing Major Sectors

The increased uptake of hydrogen as a fuel will begin to increase the sustainability across a number of sectors. The steel and transportation industries in particular are amongst those expected to benefit most significantly from the use of low-carbon hydrogen, such as green hydrogen, resulting in a reduction of harmful emissions. IDTechEx's portfolio of Hydrogen Research Reports and Subscriptions is home to an expansive range of hydrogen types and applications.

 

 

Green hydrogen is produced through water electrolysis, and as a result, electrolyzer technologies are currently a prevalent topic of discussion for decarbonization projects. IDTechEx's report, "Materials for Green Hydrogen Production 2026-2036: Technologies, Players, Forecasts", covers the four main electrolysis technologies including alkaline water electrolyzer (AEL), proton exchange membrane electrolyzer (PEMEL), anion exchange membrane electrolyzer (AEMEL), and solid oxide electrolyzer (SOEC).

 

PEMEL electrolyzers are favored within the commercial sector for their compact designs and smaller footprints generated than with alkaline systems. Their high-power density comes as a result of their solid proton exchange membrane, with IDTechEx reporting that they are capital-intensive but a good option for applications that require a rapid response to fluctuating renewable power sources. SOEC electrolyzers on the other hand are one of the most efficient technologies, operating at the lowest voltage range, and leveraging high-temperature operation to enable optimal thermodynamics.

 

 

 

Manufactured with the use of green hydrogen as part of the direct reduction processes, green steel gets its name from efforts to eliminate emissions in its production. Other routes to green steel may include technologies such as molten oxide electrolysis, which have made ironmaking electric and further aim to eliminate CO₂ emissions.

 

Currently approaching 10% of global emissions, the steel industry has a long way to go before it can be labelled as sustainable. The largest area for green steel regulations globally is currently the EU, where there are incentives, targets, and carbon-pricing in place to push for increased circularity and sustainability efforts. In the US, Brazil, China, and Australia, there are also notable incentives taking place, while for the majority of the world, there is still no recognized regulatory activity at play.

 

Some of the largest applications for steel, outlined in IDTechEx's report, "Green Steel 2025-2035: Technologies, Players, Markets, Forecasts", include construction and building, industrial machinery, automotive parts including car bodies and engine parts, other transportation such as trains, ships, and aircraft, and domestic appliances. The report highlights how the use of green steel could have the knock-on effect of increasing the sustainability of many other sectors. With building and infrastructure accounting for 52% of steel use in 2023, the scope for green hydrogen applications is huge. As production of green hydrogen hopefully continues to increase in line with global regulations, the green steel industry will also start to benefit.

 

 

 

In the world of increasing demand for energy storage, hydrogen can provide sustainable energy sources for a number of stationary applications including data center and telecoms, residential, utilities, industrial, and commercial. Fuel cell technology is ever-growing, with proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) and solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) being amongst the most popular choices and topics of discussion.

 

For stationary power generation, including back-up power for data centers and telecoms and commercial buildings, IDTechEx has found that PEMFCs are most favored, with the automotive sector also showing great interest in this fuel cell type. The report, "Stationary Fuel Cell Markets 2025-2035: Technologies, Players & Forecasts", details that PEMFCs boast quick startup times and fast responses to changes in power demand, while also operating on pure hydrogen fuel and oxygen. With low operational temperatures, PEMFCs are presented as a good-all-round means of generating electricity. With only water and heat created as byproducts, fuel cell technologies are up-and-coming as a route to sustainable energy generation that highlight the benefits of hydrogen as a fuel in the place of less-sustainable non-renewable petrochemical sources of energy that have long been dominant.

 

 

 

Hydrogen planes are an increasingly discussed topic within the transport decarbonization sector, as using liquid hydrogen to fuel aircrafts could provide means of escaping the heavy weight of a battery associated with electric vehicles on the ground. With gravimetric energy density being a strong point for hydrogen, it could be a great option for air travel in the future. Current issues with storage are still a limiting factor, however, as the space required to house enough hydrogen to make this sustainable switch worthwhile will prove difficult to accommodate.

 

IDTechEx's report, "Sustainable Future Aviation 2025-2045: Trends, Technologies, Forecasts", explores the different types of hydrogen that could be used within such applications, including green hydrogen as the most expensive, followed by blue hydrogen which, although cheaper, would not provide the same reductions in CO₂ emissions. However, with hydrogen being three times as energy-dense as jet fuel and one hundred times as energy-dense as lithium-ion batteries, the possibility for air travel with hydrogen is something to watch.

 

For more information on the sustainable powers of hydrogen, visit IDTechEx's portfolio of Hydrogen Research Reports and Subscriptions for the latest technologies and developments across a diverse array of sectors.