[GWSG] Uses of H2; H2 & climate; uses of activism; Come Hell or High Water

[Tilley, Al]

1. Civil engineer Bruce Melton sends this information on legitimate uses of green hydrogen: “It is not the direct burning of hydrogen that is one of the most important climate change mitigation strategies, it is the synthesis of contemporary carbon natural gas to create neutral emissions so we can decarbonize hard to decarbonize sectors and achieve net zero emissions. Forty percent of energy and industry emissions are from hard to decarbonize sectors where direct heat energy is the only answer and renewables cannot create direct heat energy. (https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/FP_20210623_industrial_gross_v2.pdf ) This is 15 Gt annual emissions. Natural gas cooking is another hard to decarbonize sector that's a sleeper with trillions of dollars of investment that would be stranded with electrification. Hydrogen and air capture CO2 can create contemporary carbon natural gas to supply this needed heat energy. The Renewable Energy and Materials Economy Report (https://elkinstitute.files.wordpress.com/2022/03/reme.pdf ) shows the break-even is at $3 gallon gasoline. So while hydrogen as a direct fuel is not a very sound idea, hydrogen (green hydrogen) as a component to replace fossil natural gas with carbon neutral contemporary natural gas is one of the primary strategies we are going to have to use to achieve net zero for 15 gigatons of hard to decarbonize sectors' emissions.”
Won’t synthetic methane carry the same greenhouse potential as mined methane?

2. Ecologist Stephen Mulkey responded to my request for info on the climate impact of H2: “It is my understanding that H2 is a secondary GHG through its depletion of OH in the troposphere, which increases the longevity of CH4.  In addition, it does have an apparent warming effect in the stratosphere, but CO2 has a cooling effect at this level. I have not seen where this juxtaposition has been addressed.
“The GWP of H2 is calculated to be ~9 relative to CO2 over 100 years, but I am not sure that this is generally the consensus of the scientific community. Regardless, the most important effect is the depletion of OH in the troposphere and this significantly enhances the GWP of CH4, which even without this effect is 84 over 20 years.
“The largest value that I have seen for H2 is about 20 over 20 years.
“Certainly, your concern is valid.  It is extremely unlikely that H2 can be produced and transported without very significant leakage.
“I think that a bigger criticism of H2 is that it is a poor choice for small-scale deployment. It is absurd to think that we could fuel personal vehicles or homes with this source of energy. Large-scale applications might fare better with respect to leakage if fuel cells are created near the source.
“We have a lot to learn about H2. There has been recent speculation that H2 gas is naturally contained in rock strata and may frequently leak to the atmosphere.”

3. Climate activists who glue themselves to doors, block traffic, and throw soup on paintings are public nuisances. They do shock us out of our false sense of a stable status quo, though, and might be considered necessary. Two climate psychologists talk about why they have given up their careers in clinical psychology to focus on activism. 56% of young people worldwide think that humanity is doomed; activism can give them an opportunity to intervene effectively. Thanks to Brian Paradise for the story. https://www.euronews.com/green/2023/03/12/meet-the-psychologist-who-matchmakes-philanthropists-with-cash-strapped-activists

4.  At the Aspen Ideas Climate Conference in Miami Beach last week panelists in the Come Hell or High Water session discuss the prospect of retreat from rising waters. The panelists are a tribal lawyer from S Louisiana, a community historian from Miami Beach, the Tampa journalist who wrote The Great Displacement, and a Harvard law professor and consultant on climate who believes that we should accord retreat the same level of support and care as we accord to hospice.  One hour of vital discussion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwO76lbOTCw

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