Assertion Supported AI assessment confidence: 95% certainty 4/5 debate potential 1/5

Finke: Hydrogen is made from fossil fuels because it is cheapest

Cody Finke · Literally unearthing a climate solution with Cody Finke of Brimstone · Nov 16, 2023 · at 3:49

Brimstone co-founder Cody Finke explains why he abandoned academic research into water electrolysis at Caltech.

0:00 / 0:09exact quote · 9.5s

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“We don't make hydrogen by splitting water today. We make hydrogen a different way from a fossil fuel, actually. And we do that because it's the lowest cost way to make hydrogen.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

The claim, plainly

Hydrogen is predominantly produced from fossil fuels rather than water splitting because fossil fuel conversion is the lowest-cost method.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

Both legs of Cody Finke's assertion are verified by authoritative global and national energy data as of late 2023. First, the International Energy Agency (IEA) reported in its Global Hydrogen Review 2023 that over 99% of global hydrogen production (~95 Mt in 2022) was derived from unabated fossil fuels (primarily steam methane reforming and coal gasification), while water electrolysis accounted for less than 0.1% of global production. In the United States, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) similarly reported that roughly 95% of domestic hydrogen is produced via natural gas steam methane reforming. Second, comparative levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) data confirms fossil fuel production is the cheapest method: unabated natural gas reforming ranged between $0.50 and $1.70 per kg of H2, whereas water electrolysis produced hydrogen at $3.50 to $8.00+ per kg according to the IEA, IRENA, and the DOE.

IEA Global Hydrogen Review 2023 confirmed unabated fossil fuels represented over 99% of global hydrogen production, with water electrolysis accounting for under 0.1%.
IEA and IRENA benchmarked levelized production costs for unabated natural gas reforming at $0.50–$1.70/kg H2 versus $3.50–$8.00+/kg H2 for water electrolysis.
U.S. Department of Energy clean hydrogen roadmap confirmed ~95% of U.S. hydrogen comes from natural gas reforming, with green electrolysis baseline costs around $5.00/kg versus fossil baselines near $1.00–$1.50/kg.

Checked against

[1] waterstofnet.eu [2] greenhydrogenstandard.org [3] rsc.org [4] irena.org [5] researchgate.net [6] mdpi.com [7] iiasa.ac.at [8] wssenergy.com

DOE hydrogen levelized cost fossil fuel SMR vs electrolysis 2022 2023 IEA Global Hydrogen Review 2023 production fossil fuels share cost levelized IEA "Global Hydrogen Review 2023" "95 Mt" "electrolysis" fossil fuels percentage "Department of Energy" "Hydrogen Shot" "$1 per 1 kilogram" SMR cost baseline IRENA hydrogen production cost fossil fuels vs electrolysis 2022 2023

assessed as of 2026-09-03

This assessment is an AI reading of a public statement, made against the cited references with the confidence shown. It can be wrong. The quote, the tape and the references are all on this page; if something is off, use report an error below. full disclaimer →

Mentioned

fossil fuels hydrogen production water electrolysis

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