Thomas Koch-Blank, a climate and hydrogen expert at RMI, discusses updated scientific assessments of hydrogen's indirect global warming potential with host Shayle Kann.
Assertion Supported
Koch-Blank: Historical IPCC tables underestimated the climate impact of hydrogen leakage
“There has, I mean, if you go back in the tables that have been developed by the IPCC process and used in all the national inventories for hydrogen leakage, the number has been significantly lower than some of the recent research suggests.”
Assertion Supported
Koch-Blank: Hydrogen leaks indirectly cause warming by extending methane lifetime and creating water vapor
“Basically what happens is that the hydrogen that leaks has itself a global warming potential, which has been considered, but then also it has an effect of extending the lifetime of methane in the atmosphere basically causing the methane to stick around longer,…”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Koch-Blank: Massive hydrogen adoption rates across the economy are unlikely
“Very large adoption rates for hydrogen in the economy, for example, which I think many of us who work with hydrogen a lot would consider to be a big number, which is unlikely as an outcome”
Assertion Supported
Koch-Blank: Methane leakage has 5x the 20-year warming impact of hydrogen per megajoule
“For natural gas, it goes from 25 to 80, roughly, from a, when you compare a hundred to 25. And for hydrogen, it goes from 10 to 40, so it increases substantially, but it's still half of the global warming impact, global warming potential of Natural gas per kil…”
Insight
Koch-Blank: Safety risks will force hydrogen infrastructure to leak less than methane
“The safety aspects of leaking hydrogen, because the properties of leaking hydrogen is much more dangerous than leaking, Methane. Partly because it's harder to detect. So, So that's one reason why systems are likely to be tighter.”
Assertion Supported
Koch-Blank: Hydrogen for steelmaking yields double the emissions reduction of transport
“Using the hydrogen molecule for reducing iron ore Has twice as much you know, impact on the alternative, compared to the alternative If you benchmark with using it for transportation applications, and I bucket here shipping, aviation, and trucking.”