Page 157 - ΝΑΥΤΙΚΑ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑ - ΟΚΤΩΒΡΙΟΣ 2024

no other viable alternatives for the time being. 2050 and the EU’s target of reducing emissions
As a result, they choose to downplay its impact, by at least 55% by 2030 are based on these
thinking of it as only 28 times worse than CO green fuels’ availability. Alongside ships, car and
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over 100 years, rather than acknowledging that aeroplane manufacturers are also planning to
it is 86 times worse during the first 20 years. use hydrogen for propulsion, either through fuel
Furthermore, they allow the theoretical -text- cells or other methods. There is no doubt that
book- CO reductions of LNG (of 25%) to be we are heading towards a global shift to green
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applied to their regulations. The justification fuels, nearly all of which must be produced from
they offer for using the centennial measure- green hydrogen to be considered carbon-free
ment is that it aligns with IPCC guidelines. The or carbon-neutral.
excuse they give for using the centennial in the Naturally, I looked up what scientific studies
regulations is that that's what the IPCC says. have to say about the potential impact of hydro-
But this is not true; anyone looking at the rele- gen on the atmosphere. What I discovered was
vant section of the IPCC report (buried among a double déjà vu: hydrogen is, in fact, a pow-
thousands of pages) will see an asterisk that erful greenhouse gas. Most people, including
clearly states that “The choice of time horizon academics and scientists, do not seem to be
depends on the type of application and the pol- aware of this, possibly due to the fact that it
icy context/targets”. is not a direct greenhouse gas, but an indirect
one. Or maybe because studies from the pre-
Hydrogen and green fuels vious decade (circa 2011) considered hydrogen
The solution currently being promoted to decar- relatively weak, estimating it to be only 10 to 12
bonise shipping and the planet as a whole cen- times worse than CO . However, more recent
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tres around green fuels, namely green hydro- studies from 2021 and 2022 are essentially say-
gen, green ammonia, and green methanol. The ing, “We were wrong – it is much worse than
latter two are produced from green hydrogen, we thought”.
which is derived via water electrolysis using When hydrogen leaks unburnt into the atmo-
renewable electricity sources. The IMO’s new sphere, it contributes to its warming in three
target of achieving net-zero GHG emissions by ways: a) It immediately combines with the

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