Energy Exchange

Known Unknown: Current hydrogen leak estimates vary by up to 100-fold. We need to know more before betting the farm

By EDF Blogs / Published: August 16, 2023

Hydrogen renewable energy production pipeline - hydrogen gas for clean electricity solar and windturbine facility.

Hydrogen renewable energy production pipeline – H2 can leak easily through joints and valves (if they are not correctly tightened).

By Sofia Esquivel Elizondo

Enthusiasm for hydrogen as a climate-friendly fuel of the future is everywhere. Hundreds of hydrogen energy projects worth more than $500 billion have been announced, and The International Energy Agency says hydrogen demand could increase sixfold by 2050.

Scientists, though, are confident that this leak-prone gas can warm the climate when it escapes into the atmosphere. Just how much warming will depend on how much hydrogen is emitted, and that remains a giant question mark. That’s why Environmental Defense Fund set out to identify the climate risks of future hydrogen emissions and help develop technology that can detect how much hydrogen escapes from today’s infrastructure.

EDF’s groundbreaking 2022 study explained how unchecked hydrogen emissions can severely undercut the climate benefit of switching from fossil fuels to hydrogen. We found that if it’s not done right, using hydrogen could be worse for the near-term climate than the fossil fuels it would replace.

Posted in Air Quality / Authors: admin / Comments are closed

New bipartisan legislation would give U.S. orphan well management efforts a huge boost

By EDF Blogs / Published: August 7, 2023

Senator John Hickenlooper (D-CO) meets with oil industry and environmental group leaders at kick-off event for orphan well remediation program in Adams County, CO

By Adam Peltz and Meg Coleman

Across the country, a million or more orphaned oil and gas wells threaten the climate, public health, groundwater and surface waters and hamper local economic development. Help is on the way thanks to a major federal effort to invest $4.7 billion in closing orphan wells under the Revive Economic Growth and Reclaim Orphaned Wells Act as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, but the scale of the problem is vast.

In order to get a handle on these orphaned wells, New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Luján , Democrat, and North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer, Republican, worked together to secure well closure funding in BIL. Now, they have reintroduced the Abandoned Well Remediation Research and Development Act and a bipartisan group in the House led by Pennsylvania Rep. Summer Lee, Democrat, and republican Oklahoma Rep. Stephanie Bice have introduced a companion bill. This important, bipartisan legislation would invest more than $150 million over the next five years to help find an estimated 800,000 undocumented orphan wells, reuse those we can for beneficial purposes and ultimately close all of the rest more effectively and affordably. While partisan politics seem to divide the Capitol these days, it is exciting to see leaders on both sides of the aisle come together to address orphan wells.

Posted in Air Quality, Methane, Methane regulatons / Tagged New Mexico | Authors: admin / Comments are closed

New rules could mean less waste, less pollution and more jobs for Louisiana

By EDF Blogs / Published: July 31, 2023

By Adam Peltz and Elizabeth Lieberknecht

Recently, Louisiana, under the leadership of Gov. John Bel Edwards, became the latest state taking action to curb pollution and waste from oil and gas production. In a new proposal, the state says it will limit natural gas venting and flaring and attempt to reduce the risk of thousands of idle wells becoming orphaned. Both actions will help create jobs, protect taxpayers and safeguard the environment. Here’s how.

Posted in Air Quality, Flaring, Methane, Methane regulatons / Authors: admin / Comments are closed

Colorado’s methane pollution verification rule is a game-changer: here are three reasons why

By EDF Blogs / Published: July 31, 2023

By Nini Gu

On Thursday, July 20^th we saw a major shift in how methane emissions from oil and gas sources can be regulated, and to no one’s surprise it came from the nation’s leading state on this issue: Colorado.

Posted in Air Quality, Colorado, Methane regulatons / Authors: admin / Comments are closed

For a Clean, Safe Ride to School, Electric Buses Get Straight A’s. Propane? Needs Improvement

By EDF Blogs / Published: July 26, 2023

GreenPower electric school bus parked in front of the West Virginia State Capitol building; Charleston, WV

By Ali DySard and Melody Reis

School districts around the country are considering a switch to buses that use less fuel, cost less, and, most importantly, provide safe and healthy trips to and from school. Only one option wins on each of these critical criteria: electric. They eliminate the dirty tailpipe emissions of diesel and other fossil fuel models that harm vulnerable lungs, they save money on fuel and maintenance costs and they can even increase the resilience of the local electric grid.

This clear choice is why the majority of the EPA’s Clean School Bus rebate program applications were for —and nearly 100% of the first round of funding went to — electric buses.

But old technology habits die hard, and propane bus manufacturers have allied with propane lobbyists to push school districts to consider their internal combustion buses. And they’re using some of the fossil fuel industry’s old bag of tricks to take on their electric rivals.

Unfortunately, the truth is not on their side and propane does not come out on top.

Posted in Air Quality, Clean Energy, Electric Vehicles / Authors: admin / Comments are closed

New research reaffirms hydrogen’s impact on the climate, provides consensus

By EDF Blogs / Published: July 19, 2023

By Ilissa Ocko and Steven Hamburg

Hydrogen emissions from leakage, venting and purging leads to global warming, new research confirms. To take advantage of the potential benefits of switching from fossil fuel systems to hydrogen, we need to keep emissions at a minimum, and doing so will depend on the development of new instruments that can detect even small leaks, allowing us to minimize them in the future.

A new paper published this summer in the journal Communications Earth and Environment uses five different climate models that show consistent results on hydrogen’s global warming potential at the 20, 100, and 500 year ranges. These results align with other recent studies.

Posted in Air Quality / Authors: admin / Comments are closed