Hidrogenoa, soluzioa ote da? Hydrogen, is it the solution?

Abstract

In recent years, hydrogen has been appearing everywhere. Public institutions and private companies continuously tell us that hydrogen will be the most important pillar in achieving the energy transition. But will hydrogen truly be the solution to our problems? In fact, hydrogen is the future bet of the petrochemical industry, because it allows them to market a climatically neutral fuel using current infrastructure. Hydrogen has some advantages, and it will facilitate the decarbonisation of certain sectors of the economy, but it also has its own challenges. Therefore, hydrogen will not be a miraculous solution. The energy transition can not only rely on hydrogen; other “players” will also need to be involved (batteries, capacitors, thermal energy, etc.). For this reason, a combination of solutions will need to be implemented to tackle the energy challenge. This paper presents a general review of hydrogen economy, with the analysis of most important challenges in production, storage, transportation, applications and economics.