Energies 2023 , 16 , 280
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Figure1. Carbon neutral fuels in future net zero carbon emissions. 2. Role and Prospects of Carbon-Neutral Fuels in the Future Energy System 2.1. Green Hydrogen The International Energy Agency (IEA) reports that in 2020 the demand for hydrogen was approximately 90 million metric tons, with approximately 80% being used as pure hydrogen and the remainder being mixed with carbon-containing gases for steel manufac- turing and methanol production [26]. In a scenario where net zero emissions are targeted, the demand for hydrogen is projected to increase to 530 million metric tons by 2050, a nearly six-fold increase from the 2020 level [27]. Green hydrogen is a synonym for renewable energy produced through water electrolysis using renewable energy sources. Currently, green hydrogen accounts for only 0.1% of global energy production [28]. However, since the scale-up of green hydrogen is crucial for achieving net zero emissions by 2050 and limiting global temperature to 1.5 °C, green hydrogen, and its derivates could be responsible for supplying up to 12% of final energy consumption by 2050. Therefore, 63% of final energy consumption could be realized from both green hydrogen and electricity alone [29]. By 2023, investment in green hydrogen production could exceed $1 billion due to the fall in renewable power and electrolyzer costs as a result of several governmental interventions and policies regarding green hydrogen [30]. For example, the US Department of Energy is putting up $100 million for research and development of green hydrogen. By 2030, the European Union will have invested $430 billion in green hydrogen to aid in the realiza- tion of its Green Deal. Chile, Japan, China, Germany, and Australia are all making huge investments in green hydrogen [31]. Based on several assessments of different agencies such as BloombergNEF [32], Energy Transition Commission [33], Hydrogen council [34], IRENA [29], and IEA [35] as compiled by the authors of [36], it is clear that 2050 shydrogen will be mainly green and blue hydrogen (hydrogen production from fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies), with the former contributing more than half of total production (Figure 2). Both are carbon-neutral pathways but CCS is yet to be widely commercial and requires significant scale-up as well.
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