Hydrogen

Fast Facts About
Hydrogen

Principal Energy Uses: Electricity, Transportation

Hydrogen is a versatile energy currency that can be produced from fossil fuels or water and that also occurs naturally in rocks underground. Hydrogen has very low energy density by volume but is extremely energy dense by weight. Although it is currently used primarily as a feedstock for oil refining, chemicals, and fertilizers, hydrogen shows promise as a clean fuel for heavy-duty transportation, steel-making, heating, and energy storage. Hydrogen is often referred to as the “Swiss Army knife of decarbonization”, because it has potential in hard to decarbonize applications; however, it is still nascent and a lot needs to happen (regulatory, tech innovation, infrastructure build-out) before it can contribute to decarbonization.

Today, the vast majority of produced hydrogen is created from fossil fuels, but renewable hydrogen can be created through electrolysis, the process of using electricity to create hydrogen from water. Electrolysis is more expensive than fossil fuel hydrogen and other fuels, but the relative costs are rapidly decreasing due to technological innovation, government subsidies, investment activity, and commercialization.

Geologic hydrogen, hydrogen that occurs naturally in rocks underground, is difficult to detect and has long been overlooked. However, breakthroughs in recent years have generated significant interest and investment in the prospect of geologic hydrogen as an economically viable clean energy source.

Current Status

Categories of Hydrogen*

_{*All hydrogen is the same. Colors are assigned based on the environmental impact of how the hydrogen was produced. The colors above are listed in order of their environmental impact. (brown is worst; green, and potentially white/gold, are best).}

The Future

Our Lecture on
Hydrogen

This is our Stanford University Understand Energy course lecture on hydrogen. We strongly encourage you to watch the full lecture to understand the potential roles of hydrogen in achieving net zero and to be able to put this complex topic into context. For a complete learning experience, we also encourage you to watch / read the Essential videos and readings we assign to our students before watching the lecture.

Presented by: Xiaolin Zheng, PhD; Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Energy Science Engineering; Senior Fellow, Precourt Institute for Energy; Professor, by Courtesy, Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University
Recorded on: November 6, 2023   Duration: 34 minutes

Next Topic: Energy for Buildings Other Energy Topics to Explore