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For decades, we've been promised a high-tech hydrogen economy that never arrives. Yet we continue to pour billions of dollars into hydrogen as part of our low-carbon future. As the window to mitigate climate change narrows, is it time to stop investing in "the fuel of the future?"
In 2003, energy expert Joseph J. Romm wrote
The Hype About Hydrogen to explain why hydrogen wasn't the panacea we were promised--and may never be. In this newly revised and updated edition, Romm builds an even stronger case, explaining the barriers hydrogen faces, from its inefficiency as an energy carrier to the risk of increased global warming from hydrogen leaks. In a series of significant updates, Romm breaks down the latest methods of production, including "green" hydrogen and hydrogen made with nuclear power, and reveals the limitations of suggested applications of hydrogen, including e-fuels and hydrogen cars.
The Hype About Hydrogen is essential reading--and a reality check--for anyone who hopes that hydrogen will be a major solution to the climate crisis.
About the author
Dr. Joseph Romm was principal deputy and then acting assistant secretary of energy efficiency and renewable energy in the mid-1990s, overseeing a $1 billion budget on climate solutions for transportation, buildings, and industry, including hydrogen, fuel cells, energy storage, bioenergy, and renewables. He is a senior research fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media, where he researches climate solutions. In 2009,
Rolling Stone named him one of 100 "People Who Are Reinventing America," and
Time named him "Hero of the Environment." He received the 2024 Ban Ki-Moon Award for Environmental Leadership from the former U.N. Secretary General. He has authored eleven books, including the original
The Hype About Hydrogen, which was named one of the best science and technology books of 2004 by
Library Journal. His TEDx talk is "The Surprising Truth About Solving Climate Change." He holds a PhD in physics from MIT.
