Hydrogen for better sustainability

Hydrogen as an energy carrier which can be produced from both non-renewable and renewable resources has been recognized as a promising pathway to solve the current energy and environmental problems (i.e., energy crisis, climate change and air pollutions, etc.), because the outcome of hydrogen utilization process is water, and it will not cause any further environmental problems. Hydrogen economy and hydrogen fuel cell vehicle industry developed rapidly in many countries to promote energy transition and sustainable development. However, there is a doubt that “is it just old wine in new bottles when adopting hydrogen for energy transition?” Because it requires energy in hydrogen production processes, and there are still various emissions in the production process, the whole life cycle of hydrogen or hydrogen supply chain no matter the feedstocks are renewable or non-renewable. Then, it raised a critical question: how to produce hydrogen, use hydrogen and plan hydrogen supply network for a more sustainable future? In order to answer this question, we launched a special issue focusing on “hydrogen for better sustainability” in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (IJHE).