Decarbonizing with Hydrogen: Challenges and Opportunities

California has made significant strides in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, but there remain many challenges to achieving carbon neutrality by 2045. Many experts believe that hydrogen could be key to decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors like cement and steel production, agriculture, and heavy-duty transportation.

As California seeks to decarbonize its economy, how can hydrogen help to meet our renewable goals?

Watch this CCST Expert Briefing to learn about the challenges and opportunities of hydrogen, featuring experts from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Stanford University, UC Davis, UC Irvine, and UC Riverside.

Hosted in partnership with the Office of Senator Nancy Skinner.

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Panel Introductions:

00:00:00 Sarah Brady, PhD, CCST, Deputy Director

00:03:23 Katerina Robinson, Office of Senator Nancy Skinner, Capitol Director

00:09:53 Naomi Boness, PhD, Stanford University, Co-Managing Director, Stanford Hydrogen Initiative

00:11:19 Luca Mastropasqua, PhD, UC Irvine, Senior Scientist, National Fuel Cell Research Center

00:13:02 Arun Raju, PhD, UC Riverside, Associate Director of Operations, Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT)

00:15:42 Lewis Fulton, PhD, UC Davis, Director, STEPS Program, Institute of Transportation Studies

00:18:17 Joshua White, PhD, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Deputy Division Leader for Science and Technology, Atmospheric, Earth, and Energy Division

Q&A:

00:21:41 Opening Question: Does combustion of hydrogen actually produce an air quality benefit to a community where that combustion is occurring over a combustion of a of a natural gas?

00:26:38 What's the difference between green, blue, and brown hydrogen and its availability?

00:31:26 What are the net requirements of the whole cycle if the hydrogen is made by splitting water? And is this practical?

00:35:07 Could you speak about hydrogen leakage monitoring and its global warming potential?

00:40:27 Is there a potential for green hydrogen and ammonia production in California?

00:44:19 Can you describe the research your institutions are doing to help achieve the goal of $1 per kilogram of green hydrogen?

00:53:31 What makes hydrogen a more attractive option for long duration storage?

00:57:05 If you could make one change today to help support the growth of green hydrogen in California, what would it be?