CASE STUDY CO2 of world is as followsiii : Globally GHG
emission trends has increased since 21st
HYDROGEN: LETS BURN IT FOR A BETTER
TOMORROW.
Introduction.
India being one of the developing countries has
to face dual challenge of being in the
development race and also to adjust the
changing international policies, environmental
problems has reached to the top of this list.
Along with the environmental challenges, the
problem of excess crude oil import dependency
on other countries has been a ‘baytal’ for every
step towards development for India. Climate
change (global warming) is perhaps the most
serious environmental challenge humanity is
facing these days. Humans are altering the
earth’s climate in profound ways through
burning fossil fuels that produce carbon dioxide,
a heat-trapping (or ‘greenhouse’) gas, and from
activities such as cutting of forests and
agriculture that produces methane, another
greenhouse gas (GHG). It is also evident that
collective action by all nations is necessary to
tackle this global problemi. India needs a double
edged sword to solve these problems which can
be addressed through the use of hydrogen
economy.
World Scenario.
Countries have witnessed record high growth in
the temperature which is the result of high
carbon emission. The world is on a red alert in
case of global warming, in the races of
economic development countries consumption
of fossil fuel has increased which is giving rise
to the greenhouse gas effect, and carbon
dioxide levels have increased nearly 38 percent
as of 2009 and methane levels have increased
148 percentii. The recent data on emission of
century. The following table gives a clear
picture. The following data is of 2017 of CO2 in
kilotonne (Kton)
China 10877217.94
India 2454773.80
Russia 1764865.68
USA 5107393.21
Canada 617300.53
Globe total 37077341.00
Source: Fossil CO2 Emission Report of all
countries,2018-2019
The report clearly states from 2000- 2017 the
emission of CO2 has increased from
25697193.00 Kton to 37077341.00 Kton. Only
by flaming which is nothing but burning of fossil
fuel total emission is 35 billion tonnes. Looking
into the statistics of world crude oil
consumption report global demand for crude oil
(including biofuels) in 2018 amounted to 99.2
million barrels per day and is projected to
increase to 100.6 million barrels per day in
2019. When compared to the daily oil demand
of 86.4 million barrels in 2010, the increasing
demand trajectory is cleariv.
What is burning in India?
India is the one of the fastest growing economy
in the world with 2 trillion dollar economy.
According to the planning commission, IMF and
World bank the GDP of India of 2019 is as
follows: according to Planning Commission the
total national income of the country is
1,90,10,10,164 Cr.( At the price index at current
price) and the IMF and World bank reports
mentioned it to be 2,972.00 and 2,726.32 Bn $v.
The Indian economy attains its major national
income from the service sector followed by the
service industrial and agriculture sector i.e.
54.40%, 29.7% and 15.87% respectivelyvi. Major
part of the Indian revenue is spent in the import
of crude oil. Out of the total crude oil
consumption, India produces 7.8% and the
remaining 93.2% is shipped in by 15 countries
of the worldvii. India spends $114.5 billion on
crude oil which is 9.7% of the total import of
the world. The data clearly shows the
dependency of India on the brown oil by the
world at large.
Indian Hot Climate
The summers which went by, our country at
large faces a temperature growth, where the
cities experienced a temperature of 40 degree
Celsius and more. In the last 20 years, the
deaths in India have doubled because of heat
waves. The cause of this alarming change in
temperature is due the emission of CO2. India
stands 4th in the world emitting 7% CO2
because of the fuel combustion. CO2 levels in
India from fuel combustion increased from 181
million tonnes (MT) in 1971 to 2,066 MT in 2015
- a 1,041 per cent increaseviii. Not surprisingly,
the national capital region of Delhi has the
highest annual carbon footprint in the country.
In fact, Delhi’s annual CO2 emission of 69.4
million tonnes is equal to the CO2 emission of
Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai put
together. When it comes to per capita CO2
emission, Chandigarh and Vadodara are far
ahead of the rest with 3.9 tonnes and 3.5
tonnes respectively.
Hydrogen: a fuel for future?
1. Hydrogen is one of the most abundantly
found elements in the universe. But more
than just being abundant, it has property
which can give power to a number of
different types of transportation. Hydrogen
economy was proposed to solve the
problems of carbon emission by the burning
of fossil fuel. The use of hydrogen greatly
reduces pollution. When hydrogen is
combined with oxygen in a fuel cell, energy
in the form of electricity is produced. This
electricity can be used to power vehicles, as
a heat source and for many other uses. The
advantage of using hydrogen as an energy
carrier is that when it combines with
oxygen the only byproducts are water and
heat. No greenhouse gasses or other
particulates are produced by the use of
hydrogen fuel cells.
2. Hydrogen can be produced locally from
numerous sources. Hydrogen can be
produced either centrally, and then
distributed, or onsite where it will be used.
Hydrogen gas can be produced from
methane, gasoline, biomass, coal or water.
3. If hydrogen is produced from water we
have a sustainable production system .
Electrolysis is the method of separating
water into hydrogen and oxygen.
Renewable energy can be used to power
electrolyzers to produce the hydrogen from
water, renewable sources are used for the
sameix.
Leading investment in hydrogen fuel cell
A fuel cell combines hydrogen and oxygen to
produce electricity, heat, and water. Fuel
cells are often compared to batteries. Both
convert the energy produced by a chemical
reaction into usable electric power.
Following is the data of countries investing in
the production of Hydrogen fuel cells;
1. American President George W. Bush
announces $1.2 billion Hydrogen fuel
initiative to develop the technology for
commercially viable Hydrogen-powered
fuel cells. U.S Energy Department
commits heavy funding worth
$350.million devoted to Hydrogen
research and vehicle demonstration
 projects for research in Hydrogen and
fuel cell technologies
2. The U.K. announced a £35 million
(US$45 million) investment to
encourage the use of ultra-low
emissions cars and motorbikes that
includes £2 million (US$2.6 million) to
encourage businesses to adopt FCEVs.
3. Japan’s Ministry of Trade and Industry
announced a plan calling for 40,000
FCEVs by 2020, 200,000 by 2025, and
800,000 by 2030; 160 hydrogen stations
by fiscal year (FY) 2020 and 320 by FY
2025.
4. The Chinese city of Wuhan set up a 200
million yuan (US$28.9 million) fund to
develop an automotive FCEV industryx.
The Indian hydrogen Economy
The picture of Indian fuel consumption is very
clear; it is that of total dependency, lack of
energy sources. This makes it vulnerable in the
global developmental race which this country
has clearly understood over the years. India is
the signatory to the Copenhagen Accord i.e.
energy related CO2 emission targeted to reach
31 Gigatonne (GT) in 2020. Dramatic CO2
emission is targeted according to this accord
which is of 21.7 (GT) by 2015.
The Indian Govt has estd. National Hydrogen
Energy Road Map (NHERMP) under the Ministry
of New and Renewable Energy to address this
issue. The main objective of the plan is to
recognize the routes, which will prompt
acceptance of Hydrogen as the energy and
accelerate the commercialization and
encourage the formation of hydrogen
infrastructure. The plans projected the
introduction of 1000 Hydrogen fueled vehicles
by 2020.
Hydrogen production routes: The Ministry is
aiming to produce hydrogen - 48% from natural
gas, 30% from oil, 18% from coal and 4% from
water. The ministry along with IISc Bangalore
has launched ‘Mission Mode Project on
Hydrogen Storage materials (solid
hydrides)’which will gasify hydrogen. Ministry is
also in collaboration with International
Advanced Research Centre for Powder
Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI-CFCT); and
‘Setting Up of a Centre of Excellence on
Hydrogen Energy at National Institute of Solar
Energy (NISE), Gwal Pahari, Haryana’ to NISExi.
Private players: The India Hydrogen economy is
taking baby steps. The Energy ministry has
received a total 5254.83cr in the 2019 budget
out of which only 5% is used for hydrogen
economy hence the private participation is
highly required - HAI: Hydrogen association of
India is formed under the Indian Societies Act
which has big Indian corporate as members for
eg: MVS Engineering ,TATA Motors, Air
Products, Society of Indian Automotive
Manufacturer, Indian Oil Corporation Limited
Etc. ISRO is also in the collaboration with this
society giving the public private partnership
which gives boost to the investment in this
sector.
Advantages
Though India is taking the baby steps towards
the hydrogen economy the early joining in the
race will give India a better outlook in
technological development. Shifting to
hydrogen economy, the country will have sharp
edge in energy supply, environment, economic
competitiveness and energy security. The shift
in demand of the fossil fuel will result in
decrease in the import ration of brown fuel. The
excess hydrogen power generation capacity
available in India is nearly 500 billion units/year
presently and another 75,000 MW conventional
power generating capacity is in pipeline
excluding the targeted 175,000 MW renewable
power by 2022. (A Statement by Union Minister
Power minister Piyush Goyal to Economic Times i
EPW Commentary December 6, 2003 Inaction
on 7th July,2016)
on Climate Change by Shreekant Gupta.
ii
Challenges: https://www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features
/GlobalWarming/page2.php.
One of the major challenges India Hydrogen
iii
Economy is facing is that of the government Fossil CO2 emission of all world
investment in this sector. The ministry is facing countries,2018 report.
the structural transformation from conventional iv
https://www.statista.com/statistics/271823/dail
energy source i.e. coal which is one of the
y-global-crude-oil-demand-since-2006/.
cheapest sources of energy which is 44%. Due
v
to lack of government participation, the private http://statisticstimes.com/economy/gdp-of-
investors are playing safe and not investing india.php.
much into the development of this sector. The vi
Source-Ministry of Statistics and Programme
present cost of hydrogen is about Rs 240 per kg,
Implementation (2018-2019) pub:08 Feb 2019.
which must come down by a factor of three or vii
The World Factbook, Field Listing: Exports –
four for viability, while noting that the sharp
rise in petrol prices would make hydrogen more Commodities, Central Intelligence Agency.
attractive. Accessed on April 14, 2019.
viii
According to a study titled 'CO2 Emissions
from Fuel Combustion (Highlights) 2017', which
was released in November 2017.
ix
Report of The Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Annual
Review, 2017.
x
https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2017/1
0/f37/fcto_2016_market_report.pdf.
xi
Annual Report of 2018 and 2019 the Ministry
of New and Renewable Energy.