About That Green Hydrogen Plan

To The Editor:

Recently, there was an article pertaining to Green Hydrogen. To inform people about what Green Hydrogen actually is would be helpful. Green hydrogen is produced through the use of green energy, like solar or wind, to create the power needed to break the bonds in a water molecule, aka hydrolysis, to produce both oxygen and hydrogen. The hydrogen created is what is known as green hydrogen.

Building a massive facility near the power plant to make green hydrogen doesn’t make much sense since it utilizes coal to produce the electricity needed to break the bonds in a water molecule. Also, where would all the water come from to be utilized? The water used has to be fresh enough to allow the hydrolysis to take place. When hydrogen is produced it could be used to create electricity for hydrolysis, but would still require the energy from utilizing the coal. This is not green hydrogen.

The power needed to produce this green hydrogen needs to come from the massive solar farms currently being built and not power plants burning coal for fuel. You could utilize all the power from the solar farms to generate green hydrogen, but do you really believe that’s what the company wants?

If this company can’t obtain the tax incentives and threaten to build the project elsewhere let them. Can we sleep at night without this wasteful endeavor? Yes.

Frank Chlumsky Muldoon