Environmentalist groups including the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity are suing a Northern California port in a bid to block development of a hydrogen generation, compression, and storage facility. Their concern? The planned BayoTech BayoGaaS Hydrogen Hub will diminish already poor local air quality.
Big picture: Hydrogen is widely considered a clean energy source—burning it doesn’t release greenhouse gas emissions. But the full environmental impact of hydrogen depends largely on how it’s produced.
BayoTech plans to extract hydrogen from methane (the most common method), which traps more heat in the atmosphere per molecule than carbon dioxide (CO2), making it considerably more environmentally harmful than other hydrogen production methods like biomass-derived liquid reforming or electrolysis. But it’s worth noting: Every common form of hydrogen production has emissions risks.
Want to go deeper on the possibility of green hydrogen? Bookmark this Energy Central piece from hydrogen advisor Charley Rattan on the business possibilities.
