Towards a green future. Part 1: How raw material scarcity can hinder our ambitions for green hydrogen and the energy transition as a whole
report
When you decide to build a house, you know you will need materials in order to do so. You also know that those materials will probably be readily available. When constructing a completely new sustainable energy system, you self-evidently need rapidly increasing levels of supplies as well. However, the potential supply risks for some ‘exotic’ (critical) materials required for this sustainable energy system has hardly been taken into account when drafting future energy plans. In this paper we will focus on green hydrogen production in particular: there is an expected shortage of the metal iridium an essential material in hydrogen production, if we aim to realize the European hydrogen plans for 2050. With iridium being in high demand also for other applications, the entire energy transition is in danger of slowing down – or coming to a complete halt. It’s time we take action. All good plans, however, begin with an overview of potential bottlenecks.
TNO Identifier
955630
Publisher
TNO
Collation
14 p.
Place of publication
Den Haag