All modes of transportation are considering hydrogen-base fuels to decarbonize freight. The question on debate is whether the industry should use blue hydrogen while it waits for green hydrogen to become more economical. If blue hydrogen is used, the hope is that it would help green hydrogen producers realize the demand for these fuels and speed up the transition as hydrogen-powered vehicles are developed. At this point in time producers are hesitant to invest in green hydrogen production, and companies are hesitant to invest in vehicles that run on hydrogen before there are sufficient supplies available. Could blue hydrogen fill in the gaps?
Maybe.
While it’s true that blue hydrogen is less expensive and easier to scale, there are obstacles to using blue fuels period. Methane leaks are possible. This is an issue that needs addressed before the industry invests in blue hydrogen as a short-term solution leading to the use of green hydrogen down the road. Some believe there should be less focus on whether hydrogen is green right now, and more focus on simply developing hydrogen technologies for the future. Tyler Cole, director of carbon intelligence at Freight Waves, predicted that “100,000 over-the-road trucks could be running on green hydrogen by 2030.” He continued that while this might not be considered a huge success, “ramping up from virtually zero to 100,000 hydrogen-powered trucks in the U.S. would be ‘pretty impressive’ in a decade.” Although the use of blue and green fuels is not our specialty here at Soren, we look forward to whatever gains the use of these fuels will bring to the industry. Whether blue fuels become a temporary solution on the path to using green fuels or not, we are excited about the idea that these fuels could be used to decarbonize freight and hope they will produce the projected results (https://www.freightwaves.com/news/could-blue-hydrogen-accelerate-transition-to-green).
