Many countries around the world are turning towards climate-friendly energy, and hydrogen
has emerged as perhaps the next major player among clean energy carriers. In Texas,
hydrogen-centric energy projects have gained traction as viable solutions for future
energy needs.
The Texas Center for Superconductivity at the 海角社区 recently hosted
fuel cell expert Professor Thomas Von Unwerth of Technical University Chemnitz in
Germany, who shared the many benefits of hydrogen as a clean energy solution.
Internationally recognized for his expertise and innovation with fuel cell systems,
Unwerth directs the Institute for Automotive Research at TU Chemnitz, where he also
heads the Department for Advanced Powertrains. He previously worked in research for
Volkswagen and the Association of German Engineers VDI.
鈥淓urope is intensively discussing what we should do in the future; we see a lot of
societal problems, a lot of demonstrations and protests because of climate change,
and we see the energy crisis that results from the cutting of a gas pipeline,鈥� Unwerth
said. 鈥淲e are now finding less oil than we consume.鈥�
Unwerth discussed how hydrogen compares to other vehicle fueling options. While lithium
batteries are more efficient, hydrogen offer advantages in extreme circumstances,
such as frigid climate.
鈥淭he hydrogen vehicles have the advantage because hydrogen fuel cells produce their
own heat,鈥� he said. 鈥淎side from this, the time it takes to refuel a hydrogen vehicle
is much faster than that of a lithium battery vehicle.鈥�
Unwerth indicated that holistically, hydrogen has a multitude of benefits for the
future of energy. He said the transportation sector is important to the energy transition
conversation because of it being 95 percent dependent on mineral oil. With vehicles
as a leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions, developers considered removing carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere and combining it with hydrogen as a fuel source to burn.
However, that isn鈥檛 a catch-all solution and other viable solutions must also be explored..
鈥淲e did quite good work in Germany on the front of wind farming to produce electricity for your vehicle,鈥� Unwerth said. 鈥淏ut even this still leads to carbon dioxide because the electricity is coming partly from fossil fuels.鈥�
The key, Unwerth shared, is finding a way to produce energy from renewables. This is where hydrogen comes in, as research by TcSUH director and Physics professor Zhifeng Ren suggests that seawater can be converted to green hydrogen via electrolysis, a cleaner and more cost-efficient energy production method.
Additionally, though solar and wind are globally available, both are fluctuating energy
sources. As for hydrogen, Unwerth said there is enough of this element bound in water
to power Earth for 36.8 billion years, if split by electrolysis. As a result, hydrogen
isUnwer considered a lucrative and economically attractive alternative energy source.
Unwerth believes that expanding the net for hydrogen energy production is a worthwhile
investment that has already begun.
鈥淲e鈥檝e begun this process in Germany, currently with more than 100 fueling stations, and in Europe to install a hydrogen backbone network with pipelines,鈥� Unwerth said. 鈥淚n the U.S., there already were great developments through the last century in California. We see currently big hydrogen projects showing up in Texas and hydrogen refilling stations are being built in Austin and San Antonio.鈥�