IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v14y2023i1d10.1038_s41467-023-43137-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A cost comparison of various hourly-reliable and net-zero hydrogen production pathways in the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Justin M. Bracci

    (Stanford University
    National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

  • Evan D. Sherwin

    (Stanford University
    Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

  • Naomi L. Boness

    (Stanford University)

  • Adam R. Brandt

    (Stanford University)

Abstract

Hydrogen (H2) as an energy carrier may play a role in various hard-to-abate subsectors, but to maximize emission reductions, supplied hydrogen must be reliable, low-emission, and low-cost. Here, we build a model that enables direct comparison of the cost of producing net-zero, hourly-reliable hydrogen from various pathways. To reach net-zero targets, we assume upstream and residual facility emissions are mitigated using negative emission technologies. For the United States (California, Texas, and New York), model results indicate next-decade hybrid electricity-based solutions are lower cost ($2.02-$2.88/kg) than fossil-based pathways with natural gas leakage greater than 4% ($2.73-$5.94/kg). These results also apply to regions outside of the U.S. with a similar climate and electric grid. However, when omitting the net-zero emission constraint and considering the U.S. regulatory environment, electricity-based production only achieves cost-competitiveness with fossil-based pathways if embodied emissions of electricity inputs are not counted under U.S. Tax Code Section 45V guidance.

Suggested Citation

  • Justin M. Bracci & Evan D. Sherwin & Naomi L. Boness & Adam R. Brandt, 2023. "A cost comparison of various hourly-reliable and net-zero hydrogen production pathways in the United States," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-13, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-43137-x
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43137-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-43137-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-023-43137-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jeffrey S. Rutherford & Evan D. Sherwin & Arvind P. Ravikumar & Garvin A. Heath & Jacob Englander & Daniel Cooley & David Lyon & Mark Omara & Quinn Langfitt & Adam R. Brandt, 2021. "Closing the methane gap in US oil and natural gas production emissions inventories," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-12, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zhou, Yujie & Huang, Yin & Mao, Xuping & Kang, Zehao & Huang, Xuejin & Xuan, Dongji, 2024. "Research on energy management strategy of fuel cell hybrid power via an improved TD3 deep reinforcement learning," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 293(C).
    2. Carmona, Roberto & Miranda, Ricardo & Rodriguez, Pablo & Garrido, René & Serafini, Daniel & Rodriguez, Angel & Mena, Marcelo & Fernandez Gil, Alejandro & Valdes, Javier & Masip, Yunesky, 2024. "Assessment of the green hydrogen value chain in cases of the local industry in Chile applying an optimization model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 300(C).
    3. Stefano Mingolla & Paolo Gabrielli & Alessandro Manzotti & Matthew J. Robson & Kevin Rouwenhorst & Francesco Ciucci & Giovanni Sansavini & Magdalena M. Klemun & Zhongming Lu, 2024. "Effects of emissions caps on the costs and feasibility of low-carbon hydrogen in the European ammonia industry," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-23, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. John E. T. Bistline & David T. Young, 2022. "The role of natural gas in reaching net-zero emissions in the electric sector," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Mark Omara & Daniel Zavala-Araiza & David R. Lyon & Benjamin Hmiel & Katherine A. Roberts & Steven P. Hamburg, 2022. "Methane emissions from US low production oil and natural gas well sites," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-43137-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.