Australia’s top scientist calls for hydrogen revolution to replace fossil fuels

The federal government’s top scientist Alan Finkel says Australia could slash global carbon emissions and create a multi-billion dollar export industry by developing hydrogen as an everyday energy source to replace fossil fuels used in vehicles, homes and industry.

Chief scientist Alan Finkel says a massive hydrogen export
industry could help the global transition away from fossil fuels.

A major climate report on Monday identified hydrogen, which can be produced with virtually no emissions, as among fuel options that must be developed if the planet is stay below the critical 1.5 degrees warming threshold and avoid the worst climate change disasters.

The report by the UN’s climate science body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, called for a coal phase-out by 2050 and predicted a substantial decline in the use of natural gas – two export industries upon which Australia is heavily reliant.

Read the story from The Age by Nicole Hasham - “Australia’s top scientist calls for hydrogen revolution to replace fossil fuels.”

Renewable hydrogen could fuel Australia's next export boom after CSIRO breakthrough

Australia's next big export industry could be its sunlight and wind, as game-changing technology makes it easier to transport and deliver their energy as hydrogen.

Industry players are even talking up renewable hydrogen as the next liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry, which could supply hydrogen to power cars, buses, trucks and trains in Japan, South Korea and even Europe.

Their plans have been given a boost by a CSIRO-developed metal membrane, which allows the high-purity hydrogen, needed for hydrogen-powered cars, to be separated from ammonia.

CSIRO principal research scientist Michael Dolan said the technology, now being trialled on an industrial scale in Australia, was "the missing link" that allowed hydrogen to be transported and used as an energy source.

Read the ABC News story - “Renewable hydrogen could fuel Australia's next export boom after CSIRO breakthrough.”