Fueling the future: How blue and green hydrogen can help solve the climate crisis
推动未来：蓝氢和绿氢如何帮助应对气候危机
Hydrogen could help tackle climate change and improve energy security. We explain the difference between grey, blue and green hydrogen and look at how they could revolutionize power generation, transportation and industrial processes for a greener future.
氢可以帮助应对气候变化并提高能源安全。我们解释了灰色、蓝色和绿色氢之间的区别，并研究它们如何彻底改变发电、运输和工业流程，以实现更绿色的未来。
The solution to the climate crisis can appear deceptively simple. Why don’t we just stop burning fossils fuels and switch to renewable sources of energy and electrification? It’s a reasonable question, but the reality is far more complicated. This is because many industrial processes and carbon-intensive activities are not easy to electrify. They either require high-levels of heat, such as in iron, steel and glass manufacture, or current battery technology has insufficient power-density for long distance transport, like shipping or air travel.
气候危机的解决方案看似简单。我们为什么不停止燃烧化石燃料并改用可再生能源和电气化呢？这是一个合理的问题，但现实要复杂得多。这是因为许多工业流程和碳密集型活动不容易实现电气化。它们要么需要高热量，例如在钢铁和玻璃制造中，要么当前的电池技术对于长途运输（例如海运或航空旅行）的功率密度不足。
The need for an answer has become increasingly urgent as the world wants to reduce fossil fuel reliance in order to combat climate change and improve energy security. But there is a potential solution: hydrogen. In particular, environmentally friendly blue and green hydrogen alongside other hydrogen-based fuels such as synthetic methane, ammonia and methanol.
随着世界希望减少对化石燃料的依赖，以应对气候变化和改善能源安全，对答案的需求变得越来越迫切。但有一个潜在的解决方案：氢气。特别是环保的蓝色和绿色氢以及合成甲烷、氨和甲醇等其他氢基燃料。
How can hydrogen combat climate change?
氢能如何应对气候变化？
Hydrogen is a naturally occurring gas that is also the most abundant element in the universe. It has enormous potential as an environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels because it only emits water when it is burned. Hydrogen is also more efficient: the amount of energy produced by hydrogen per unit weight of fuel is three times that produced by the same weight of petrol and nearly seven times that produced by coal.
氢是一种天然存在的气体，也是宇宙中最丰富的元素。作为化石燃料的环保替代品，它具有巨大的潜力，因为它在燃烧时只排放水。氢的效率也更高：每单位重量的燃料由氢产生的能量是同等重量汽油产生的能量的三倍，是煤炭产生的近七倍。
Hydrogen is also flexible and can be stored, liquefied and transported to where it is needed via pipelines, trucks and ships. It could solve the energy transfer issue for renewables and be used in fuel cells to produce electricity for power generation, transport and domestic heating. In the future, clean-burning hydrogen could also be used to decarbonize heavy industry.
氢气也很灵活，可以储存、液化并通过管道、卡车和船舶运输到需要的地方。它可以解决可再生能源的能量转移问题，并可用于燃料电池，产生电力用于发电、运输和家庭供暖。未来，清洁燃烧的氢气也可用于重工业脱碳。
But there’s a catch. Although burning hydrogen does not emit carbon dioxide (CO2), some of the processes used to produce the hydrogen do generate harmful emissions. For this reason, hydrogen is now often referred to as grey, blue or green depending on the amount of CO2 that is created during its production.
但有一个问题。尽管燃烧氢气不会排放二氧化碳 (CO2)，但用于生产氢气的一些过程确实会产生有害排放物。因此，氢现在通常被称为灰色、蓝色或绿色，具体取决于其生产过程中产生的二氧化碳量。
Understanding grey, blue and green hydrogen
认识灰氢、蓝氢和绿氢
Producing hydrogen is a complex process. It has been conventionally made using a process called steam reforming, which splits natural gas into hydrogen and CO2. But the CO2 byproduct makes this a carbon-intensive process and is why hydrogen produced this way is called “grey” hydrogen – it is worth noting that 96 percent of the world’s hydrogen is “grey” and still comes from fossil fuels.
生产氢气是一个复杂的过程。它传统上是使用一种称为蒸汽重整的工艺来制造的，该工艺将天然气分解成氢气和二氧化碳。但二氧化碳副产品使这一过程成为碳密集型过程，这就是为什么以这种方式生产的氢被称为“灰色”氢——值得注意的是，世界上 96% 的氢是“灰色”氢，并且仍然来自化石燃料。
Today, new technologies developed for carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) can trap the CO2created during steam reforming before it is released into the atmosphere. Hydrogen produced in this way is more environmentally friendly and is called “blue” hydrogen. As its name suggests, the cleanest option is “green” hydrogen. It is produced by splitting water (H2O) into hydrogen and oxygen via a process of electrolysis powered by renewable energy. This means that no CO2 is created during production.
如今，为碳捕获、利用和封存（CCUS）开发的新技术可以在蒸汽重整过程中产生的二氧化碳被捕获，然后再释放到大气中。这样生产的氢气更加环保，被称为“蓝”氢。顾名思义，最清洁的选择是“绿色”氢气。它是通过可再生能源驱动的电解过程将水（H2O）分解为氢气和氧气而产生的。这意味着生产过程中不会产生二氧化碳。
Hydrogen’s diverse applications
氢的多种应用
In general terms, hydrogen can be used as a fuel in two main ways. It can be burnt to produce heat, or it can be fed into a hydrogen fuel cell to generate electricity. The good news is that once blue or green hydrogen has been produced, it has a variety of different applications:
一般来说，氢气可以通过两种主要方式用作燃料。它可以燃烧产生热量，也可以输入氢燃料电池发电。好消息是，一旦生产出蓝色或绿色氢气，它就有多种不同的应用：
Transport: Hydrogen is already being used to fuel buses and other forms of public transport, especially in Japan. It can also be used to power freight trucks and trains, while hydrogen-based fuels such as ammonia can be used in aviation and shipping. A more widespread use of hydrogen to power vehicles will depend on the price of hydrogen fuel cells becoming cheaper and hydrogen refueling stations becoming more common.
Power generation: Hydrogen can be used for turning renewable energy sources into a fuel that can then be stored and transported over long distances. Hydrogen and ammonia can also be used in gas turbines and coal-fired power stations to reduce their emissions.
Heating buildings: Hydrogen has huge potential to replace natural gas for heating domestic and commercial buildings via existing natural gas infrastructure. Hydrogen boilers and domestic hydrogen fuel cells require further development but could play an important role in the future.
Industry: Hydrogen is currently used in a wide range of important industrial processes. These include refining petrol, manufacturing steel, treating metals and producing a range of chemicals.
交通：氢已被用于为公共汽车和其他形式的公共交通提供燃料，特别是在日本。它还可用于为货运卡车和火车提供动力，而氨等氢基燃料可用于航空和航运。氢气为车辆提供动力的更广泛使用将取决于氢燃料电池的价格变得更便宜以及加氢站变得更加普遍。
发电：氢可用于将可再生能源转化为燃料，然后可以储存并长距离运输。氢和氨还可用于燃气轮机和燃煤发电站，以减少排放。
建筑供暖：氢气具有替代天然气的巨大潜力，可以通过现有的天然气基础设施为家庭和商业建筑供暖。氢锅炉和家用氢燃料电池需要进一步发展，但可能在未来发挥重要作用。
工业：氢目前广泛用于各种重要的工业过程。其中包括精炼汽油、制造钢铁、处理金属和生产一系列化学品。
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