Hydrogen has always been the answer to our energy needs. However, the configuration of global politics post WW1, which was won by oil and coal supremacy, was always going to be a tough nut to crack.
There is now a confluence of factors which means that the time for hydrogen has arrived, and there is no turning back. Australian governments are investing to accelerate the development of an Australian hydrogen industry, and the opposition is also coming to the table with some solid policy commitments relating the use of electrolysers and fuel switching. With hydrogen, we can now take energy “off the table” as a source of so many historic ills, and we can do it far more rapidly than has been suggested.
Of course, the greatest demand driver for the hydrogen era is the health of the planet itself. Billions of people across the globe, regardless of their location and circumstances, are concerned about the health of our global ecosystem. Particularly, they are worried about the warming of our climate. They may not have given the future of hydrogen one thought, nor are they actively considering the use of hydrogen in their lives. They are, however, worried about the warming of the planet and want their governments to do something about it.
Secondly, and an arguably more pressing megatrend driving the demand for hydrogen, is “energy equality”. One of the most important themes at COP26 was the demand for energy sovereignty from those countries who were unlucky enough to miss out on the “fossil fuel lottery”. Missing out has caused so much unnecessary global economic and political distortion and disruption over the last two centuries.
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