SNA News (Melbourne) – Australia’s investment in brown hydrogen is facing criticism from some environmentalists due to its alleged cost ineffectiveness and negative impacts on the fight against climate change.

Brown hydrogen is hydrogen produced from fossil fuels such as brown coal, also called lignite. Although hydrogen in and of itself is considered clean energy, the process of manufacturing hydrogen requires a lot of energy and often produces greenhouse gases. The process of coal gasification involves reacting coal with oxygen and steam under high heat and pressure. This hydrogen can then be liquefied and exported safely.

The state of Victoria, Australia, has been powered by the brown coal mines in Latrobe Valley for over a century now, and these mines have been contributing to nearly 50% of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions due to the lignite’s high carbon content. Victoria is home to nearly a quarter of the world’s brown coal reserve.

There is an ongoing pilot project operated by a consortium of Japanese and Australian interests to produce brown hydrogen and to export it to Japan. Australia is working on commercializing the project with the use of carbon capture and storage technologies.

Nick Aberle, an author and environmentalist, told the Shingetsu News Agency in a recent interview that he is concerned that the project will continue regardless of whether or not they figure out how to make the carbon capture and storage technologies more efficient. He says that even if they do, the scale of the commercial project will lead to emissions equivalent to more than an ordinary power station’s worth of greenhouse gases.

Gas industries in Victoria are pushing for the use of hydrogen, however, even when there are no clear indications that it will be more cost effective for the state compared to its current systems.

According to Aberle, the national government of Australia has still made no firm commitment to combat climate change. Despite the demonstrable negative impacts of the fossil fuel industry, the national government has pushed to keep the coal mines open.  However, the various state governments have been more proactive in committing to the global goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Australia is known as being one of the highest emitters of carbon per capita.

In Aberle’s view, it makes no strategic or economic sense for Australia to invest in brown hydrogen. New projects must focus on the development of clean renewable energies which do not contribute to the destructive forces of climate change.

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