你可能还记得化学课上讲过氢是宇宙中最轻、最丰富的元素. You might not have learned that it’s also a powerful way to deliver clean, carbon-free energy. 当它被输入一个叫做燃料电池的装置时, hydrogen generates electricity and emits only heat and harmless water vapor.
能源专家表示，氢具有巨大的潜力，可以减少全球碳排放，并将有毒污染物排除在空气和水中. 然而，这项技术在加州还没有完全流行起来, even as the state leads the way in other climate-friendly tech like electric vehicles. 一些公交公司运营燃料电池公交车, and you might be able to spot the occasional hydrogen-powered car on the highway. But the sectors where hydrogen power could make the biggest difference — like trucking, 航运和航空——仍然由化石燃料主导.
As the State strives to meet its goal of eliminating greenhouse gas emissions by 2045, 氢的命运可能开始改变. In October, the federal Department of Energy chose California as one of seven 氢中心s, regions where the agency will fund coordinated networks of hydrogen fuel producers, 供应商和消费者. 一个由正规欧洲杯买球网站支持的名为“可再生清洁氢能源系统联盟”的联盟, or 拱门负责管理该州向能源部提出的申请，并将引导至多1美元.2 billion in federal funding toward 39 hydrogen infrastructure projects up and down the state.
完全, 拱门 projects are estimated to eliminate 2 million metric tons of carbon emissions every year, 相当于取445,1万辆汽油动力汽车被禁止上路. 他们将创造超过20万个新的 好工作. And by swapping diesel combustion engines spewing toxic exhaust for zero-pollution fuel cells, Californians will save nearly $3 billion in health care and related costs annually.
超越直接的碳减排, 氢气中心的真正贡献将是帮助清洁, renewable energy work on a statewide scale and make hydrogen cost-competitive with fossil fuels.
“拱门是引发雪崩的石头，”亚当·韦伯说. 他是劳伦斯伯克利国家实验室能源转换小组的高级科学家，也是arch的首席技术官. “我们将使用联邦资金来建设基础设施，并利用州和私人资金来真正启动加州的工作.”
正规欧洲杯买球网站校长办公室与州长商业和经济发展办公室合作, 国家建筑行业委员会和可再生能源100政策研究所建立拱门, 该组织目前有400多家企业和机构作为会员. 来自正规欧洲杯买球网站每个校区和附属国家实验室的氢专家都对arch计划进行了权衡, contributing expertise in everything from technology to economics to public health.
The Department of Energy recently announced it would send California up to $1.2 billion in the coming years to fund clean, renewable hydrogen infrastructure. 由正规欧洲杯买球网站领导的一个名为拱门的联盟提出了一系列平衡清洁氢生产的项目, 运输和使用. 这个想法是为了确保氢的使用者能够随时获得燃料, and hydrogen producers have enough customers to purchase the fuel they produce.
“大学研究人员已经帮助开发了氢技术，现在它已经准备好在我们的经济脱碳中发挥关键作用, 在加州和世界各地,正规欧洲杯买球网站校长迈克尔. 德雷克,M.D. “We are proud to help lead 拱门 and to collaborate with partners across sectors, 包括加州, 应对紧迫的气候危机.”
“UC leadership was united in its support for California’s application to become a 氢中心,正规欧洲杯买球网站负责研究与创新的副校长特蕾莎·马尔多纳多说. “我们从与加利福尼亚州前所未有的合作和伙伴关系中受益匪浅, 行业, 非营利组织, 劳工组织, 市, 港口, 社区和其他. 这一努力确实需要一个村庄才能取得成功.”
清理氢的供应链
arch计划将解决迄今为止阻碍氢作为清洁能源被广泛采用的一些问题. 其中最大的一个? 而氢作为燃料使用时不会释放温室气体, 制造这种燃料的一些过程会产生大量的碳排放.
这是因为自然界中存在的纯氢并不多. So before it can be pumped into fuel cells and converted to emissions-free energy, 它必须被制造出来. Most of the hydrogen in use today comes from reacting natural gas with pressurized steam, 这个过程会产生大量的温室气体.
Hydrogen can also be made by zapping water with electricity in a process called electrolysis. 这个过程不会产生任何温室气体, so the hydrogen that results is as renewable as the electricity that’s used to make it.
今天 electrolysis accounts for just two percent of hydrogen in circulation. The DOE funding is a big push to get that pendulum swinging in the other direction, since 拱门 will only fund hydrogen production projects that use renewable processes. Many of these projects will include dedicated solar or wind farms or get energy from biomass, 因此，电解槽无法与电动汽车充电器竞争, home heat pumps and other climate-friendly tech that draws power from the grid.
氢也可以帮助降低电网本身的排放, 杰克·布劳维尔说, 正规欧洲杯买球网站欧文分校清洁能源研究所所长. 今天 约60% 加州每年有一半的电力来自可再生能源 偶尔几天接近或100%. The state aims to meet all electricity demands with renewables within about two decades. 一路走来, 我们将, 唉, 忍受几天甚至几周不刮风的情况, 太阳不会穿透云层，流经水电站的河水也会变得涓涓细流.
“在德国, 哪里的电网更依赖可再生能源, 他们称之为dunkelflauten, 或是黑暗的低潮,布劳维尔说. 近年来，德国大力发展可再生氢，因为当太阳能和风能充足时，他们可以利用风能和太阳能来运行电解槽和储存氢气. 当dunkelflauten来袭, 他们可以利用储存的氢来发电, 而不是像我们在加州通常需要做的那样，在可再生能源产量下降时启动煤炭或天然气发电厂.
氢将是清洁能源拼图中的一块
California has plenty of energy needs for which hydrogen will probably never be a great solution. 这是因为与直接将电力输送到电网为电动汽车充电器和热泵供电相比，使用电解法制氢的能源效率要低得多.
正规欧洲杯买球网站欧文分校的布劳维尔说:“一切可以电气化的东西都应该电气化。. “建筑物绝对应该电气化. And we should have as many light-duty vehicles that are battery electric as we can.”
但是集装箱船, 卡车和飞机需要能够承载重物, 长途旅行和快速加油. For these heavy duty uses, fuel cells beat batteries because they don’t need recharging. Instead, they draw hydrogen from a refillable tank, much like today’s diesel-operated machines. 氢系统的规模与电池不同, which means fuel cells can power a vehicle much farther than a battery of the same weight.
“氢最近受到了越来越多的关注，因为它是使这些难以脱碳的部门脱碳的一种方法, 它们占美国的30%.S. 碳排放，”韦伯说. 除了它在能源领域的应用, 氢还可以代替目前在钢铁制造等工业过程中用作反应物的温室气体.
这些难以脱碳的行业, 拱门 is prioritizing projects that will replace diesel and other dirty fuels used in trucking, 港口作业和发电. 至少40%的arch福利将流向加州的弱势社区, 由于几代人的环境不公正, 更有可能住在高速公路旁, 港口和发电厂.
“They're exposed to diesel combustion emissions and they're dying prematurely, 他们得了癌症, 他们得了哮喘,布劳维尔说. “所以我非常自豪，我们把重点放在氢的应用上，这将对人们的生活产生最大的影响.”
改用氢燃料既不容易也不便宜, 但像拱门这样的协调努力将有助于加速过渡，并确保加州能够获得最大的健康, 每一美元和每一个项目都能带来气候和经济效益. 与继续燃烧化石燃料的灾难性成本相比, the coming investments in hydrogen technology are a very good deal indeed.
“氢将成为未来全球能源基础设施的关键组成部分,韦伯说. “我们试图用arch做的是找出如何在系统分析的基础上建立一个合理设计的能源生态系统, 以及如何从底层开始.”
