W&J Highlights Hydrogen Production

The Washington and Jefferson Center for Energy and Policy Management hosted a series of panel discussions on “Harnessing Hydrogen” about how to produce hydrogen for energy use and how to effectively manage the capture of carbon and store it so that it no longer is a problem to the atmosphere. The Director of the CEPM Dr. Corey Young states that western Pennsylvania can play a key role in the production of hydrogen and an area for storage of carbon as a byproduct of that production. Young states that because of the natural gas production done in this area, the methane produced by that production can be processed to create blue hydrogen that can be used to power its own infrastructure or transport it to other end users such as the transportation industry and factories that could then decrease their reliance on fossil fuels. Carbon capture and storage is also an economic possibility here as the same type of rock that surrounds the natural gas in this area, is also very useful in the storage of carbon whether it be permanent storage or temporary storage to later be used in products such as fertilizer. The panel discussed how this industry is rather new in the United States and that private industry is starting to take on this technology and that the federal government is key to preliminary funding for the ventures. Currently $9.5 billion is earmarked for hydrogen production in the recently signed Bi-Partisan Infrastructure Bill.