Hydrogen Economy: Concept and success factors
Arirang News
2019-02-18
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"Hydrogen economy" is one of the three sectors, along with AI and big data, that the Moon Jae-in Administration is investing in heavily to secure South Korea's future growth.
Kim Hyesung has more on the concept behind hydrogen economy, and the key factors that could make or break the sector.
"Hydrogen Economy" refers to the transition to hydrogen as an energy source in place of fossil fuels like coal, gas and petroleum.
Hydrogen makes up about 75 percent of the mass of the entire universe.
It can be burned to produce heat or combined with air in a fuel cell in a reaction that produces electricity.
The byproduct of that reaction is water, so it's eco-friendly.
The Moon Administration's vision of hydrogen economy, announced last month, is meant to boost the production of hydrogen-powered cars and fuelling stations... to help drive economic growth.
"Korea imports more than 90 percent of its energy from abroad. Hydrogen is a clean energy source, and it can help Korea improve its energy security. On top of that, Hyundai Motor is the first company in the world to have produced hydrogen-powered cars, giving Korea a competitive edge in leading the development of hydrogen-powered electric cars."
The government's plan is to broaden the use of hydrogen fuel cell batteries from cars to other areas like heating and industry,... and to generate 15 gigawatts of power from hydrogen by 2040.
It expects the transition to hydrogen economy to create around 38 billion U.S. dollars in economic value and 420-thousand jobs by 2040.
But for that to happen, experts say advances in technology and cost-efficiency are key.
"Countries like the U.S. and Japan invested in hydrogen powered cars in the early 2000s, but investment has fallen since then because the technology is very difficult. Many global automakers are now betting on electric cars. For hydrogen fuel cell electric cars to be used widely, there needs to be technology to create and store clean hydrogen energy, and the costs have to come down."
Currently, the government subsidizes nearly half the price of hydrogen-powered cars, which cost more than 62-thousand U.S. dollars each.
On top of bringing down production costs, deregulation and private sector investment to build infrastructure like hydrogen fueling stations will be important, which would require detailed plans and policy consistency.
Kim Hyesung, Arirang News.
Kim Hyesung has more on the concept behind hydrogen economy, and the key factors that could make or break the sector.
"Hydrogen Economy" refers to the transition to hydrogen as an energy source in place of fossil fuels like coal, gas and petroleum.
Hydrogen makes up about 75 percent of the mass of the entire universe.
It can be burned to produce heat or combined with air in a fuel cell in a reaction that produces electricity.
The byproduct of that reaction is water, so it's eco-friendly.
The Moon Administration's vision of hydrogen economy, announced last month, is meant to boost the production of hydrogen-powered cars and fuelling stations... to help drive economic growth.
"Korea imports more than 90 percent of its energy from abroad. Hydrogen is a clean energy source, and it can help Korea improve its energy security. On top of that, Hyundai Motor is the first company in the world to have produced hydrogen-powered cars, giving Korea a competitive edge in leading the development of hydrogen-powered electric cars."
The government's plan is to broaden the use of hydrogen fuel cell batteries from cars to other areas like heating and industry,... and to generate 15 gigawatts of power from hydrogen by 2040.
It expects the transition to hydrogen economy to create around 38 billion U.S. dollars in economic value and 420-thousand jobs by 2040.
But for that to happen, experts say advances in technology and cost-efficiency are key.
"Countries like the U.S. and Japan invested in hydrogen powered cars in the early 2000s, but investment has fallen since then because the technology is very difficult. Many global automakers are now betting on electric cars. For hydrogen fuel cell electric cars to be used widely, there needs to be technology to create and store clean hydrogen energy, and the costs have to come down."
Currently, the government subsidizes nearly half the price of hydrogen-powered cars, which cost more than 62-thousand U.S. dollars each.
On top of bringing down production costs, deregulation and private sector investment to build infrastructure like hydrogen fueling stations will be important, which would require detailed plans and policy consistency.
Kim Hyesung, Arirang News.
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