The world needs to be far more defined in phasing out the high-carbon environment that is endangering the future of the planet.
It needs to stride towards environmental correctness, which includes becoming considerably more low-carbon in the medium term and no-carbon in the longer term.
All of us are obliged to go ‘green’, for our own sake and for future generations.
Encouragingly, several regions are using the sun and the wind to generate green electricity and, more recently, green electricity and clean hydrogen have been going hand in hand.
In this clean form, hydrogen is fast being hailed as a universal energy carrier that can play a major role in mitigating climate change. Among the reasons are hydrogen’s infinite supply horizon, exceptionally good energy density and emission-free production potential from several sources.
At the point of use, it is able to provide clean electricity, or clean heat, or both, and it can be stored for as long as you like – a day, a week, a month, a year or ten years.
When electricity is needed during the absence of solar and wind, the stored hydrogen can do the job of generating electricity without any negative emissions and, with fuel cells, it has the capacity to decarbonise transport, stationary power generation and heat production.
What is more, proven liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC) technology gives it a useful oil-like character, which allows it to be transported, stored and dispensed in the same way as oil, with the added bonus of an upped volume and lowered cost.
A cubic metre of LOHC can convey some 57 kg of hydrogen. Conventional fossil fuel road tankers, rail tankers or ships can be used at lower total supply cost to the customer, rendering hydrogen tradable on a global scale.
Stubborn countries that refuse to go green risk economic headwinds, whereas countries that embrace environmental protection can look forward to economic tailwinds and the absence of carbon taxes.
In the case of South Africa, government and sections of the private sector need to take a bow for being far sighted.
In the public sector, the State’s Hydrogen South Africa Infrastructure organisation has been successfully operating a solar-to-hydrogen system since 2013.
In the private sector, platinum mining companies are already operating or taking steps to operate emission-free hydrogen equipment; Minerals Council South Africa has embraced fuel cells and the hydrogen economy as an attractive opportunity; the building of South Africa’s first fuel cell factory in a special economic zone (SEZ) at the coast was announced last week; and plans to manufacture a key fuel cell component at an inland SEZ are at an advanced stage.
Against this background, this edition of Mining Weekly carries a major feature on fuel cells and the hydrogen economy, which begins on page 14 and extends to page 41.