Article content continued
The spectrum has led to different labels for hydrogen, with green being the lowest carbon-intensity, followed by blue and grey.
“It’s not simply as easy as saying green, blue, grey,” Dyer said. “We’re going to need rigorous carbon measures for every hydrogen stream.”
He said he expects intense competition for the $1.5-billion fund, which should ensure that only the best projects are funded.
At a news conference on Wednesday, Seamus O’Regan, Minister of Natural Resources, said he envisions hydrogen as a pathway in helping the country reduce its carbon emissions, while simultaneously bolstering the economy.
He cited a study that suggested hydrogen energy could grow into a global $11.7-trillion industry per year by 2050. It is currently estimated to be less than $2 billion per year, according to U.S.-based market data firm Grand View Research.
O’Regan said hydrogen has the potential to reduce Canada’s carbon emissions by 45 million metric tonnes a year by 2030, and could add 350,000 new jobs during the next three decades.
“This is the vision, and this is the plan that will get us there,” he said at a press conference, “a blueprint that provides certainty to all investors looking to get in on the ground floor of a potential game changer.”
Canada is already one of the world’s top 10 producers of hydrogen. Hydrogen is already used as a feedstock by oil refineries, in fertilizer and other industrial applications, and so there is considerable production in Alberta and other western provinces. Much of that hydrogen is considered blue or grey.
Source link
