August - September 2021
MANAGEMENT
H
ydrogen is increasingly being called ‘the fuel of the future’ and can prove helpful in filling in some of the gaps in the clean-energy jigsaw. There have been increasing talks in New Zealand, especially since last 3 years, on how green hydrogen can help lower carbon emissions with the government spending millions on its research. It is one country that wants to be a prime aspirant in the development of green hydrogen. New Zealand has a plethora of renewable energy that can be utilised to make hydrogen as a next-generation fuel in an environmentally friendly way. But the question is, if NZ is well-placed to transition towards using renewable energy to produce green hydrogen as an alternative fuel for domestic use and export? Also, is the country doing
84 infrastructurenews.co.nz
Is hydrogen the future of energy? Green hydrogen can be the real solution towards lowering carbon emissions, but Kalkine Chief Executive Kunal Sawhney explores whether it has a role to play in New Zealand’s future enough for the development of the hydrogen industry? What is green hydrogen? Why is it called ‘green’? Green hydrogen is a light, highly reactive, and universal fuel that is the most abundant element in nature. It is a clean energy source, different from coal and oil, that produces only water. It needs to be extracted chemically from other molecules because there are no natural hydrogen reserves
on the planet. The most popular method is extracting hydrogen from water, which comprises two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. It’s not difficult to do this. The country can use heat and chemical processes to liberate hydrogen from organic resources like fossil fuels. However, this is quite polluting, and there is a more environmentally friendly technique to get hydrogen. The method employs an
electrical current to split hydrogen from oxygen in the water. The molecule is divided into 2 parts when a powerful electrical current is transmitted through a tank of water, and the process is called electrolysis. If this electricity is sourced from renewable sources, energy can be produced without putting carbon dioxide into the environment, thus helping the country reduce CO2 emissions. The question is, does NZ have affordable and effi-
