Hydrogen

Hydrogen is an energy carrier, not an energy source. Hydrogen can store and deliver usable energy, but it doesn’t typically exist by itself in nature; it must be produced from compounds that contain it.

Hydrogen can be produced using diverse, domestic resources including nuclear; natural gas and coal; and biomass and other renewables including solar, wind, hydro-electric, or geothermal energy. This diversity of domestic energy sources makes hydrogen a promising energy carrier and important to our nation’s energy security. It is expected and desirable for hydrogen to be produced using a variety of resources and process technologies (or pathways).

Hydrogen can be produced via various process technologies, including thermal (natural gas reforming, renewable liquid and bio-oil processing, and biomass and coal gasification), electrolytic (water splitting using a variety of energy resources), and photolytic (splitting water using sunlight via biological and electrochemical materials).