Houston can lead ‘Earthshot’ to hydrogen
President John F. Kennedy delivered a bold vision in his historic Moonshot speech in Houston, 59 years ago this month:
“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
Given our current turmoils we need to find similar inspiration to achieve great things in our own time. In Houston, our inspiration should be to transform energy, the area in which we’re globally recognized, and address climate change.
Last June, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm made Houston her first visit outside the nation’s capital because she recognized the unique role our region can play in leading the energy transition.
The week following that visit, she announced her own Kennedyesque vision: an “Earthshot” to address climate change through new ambitious targets. The first is to reduce the cost of clean hydrogen by 80 percent to $1 per kilogram in one decade. And to deploy it on a grand scale.
At the Center for Houston’s Future, we believe that these events were no mere coincidence. As Granholm well understands, the world’s energy capital must answer her call if the country is to achieve this ambitious climate vision.
Just as NASA used hydrogen as spacecraft fuel on moon missions, the first element can be employed for this new challenge.
Hydrogen is a remarkably flexible element. Today, we use hydrogen to refine gasoline and create petrochemicals, but tomorrow we can convert it to a low-carbon fuel that can reduce our carbon emissions and decrease air pollution. As we innovate to reduce emissions and drive down production costs, we will also create new markets for hydrogen in steel and cement manufacturing and in energy storage and new global export markets. These will create a new low-carbon energy industry in Houston with good-paying jobs and significant economic growth potential.
This vision is not without its detractors. Recently, some have criticized the drive to produce low-carbon “blue” hydrogen using natural gas combined with carbon capture technology as “greenwashing,” an industry subterfuge to perpetuate fossil fuels. They prefer “green” hydrogen produced with renewable energy through the process of electrolysis, which splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. Today, that’s both expensive and requires vast amounts of renewable energy, and therefore will take a decade-long “Earthshot” to make it competitive.
Rather than pick winners, we see the need for both methods to meet our climate challenges. To decarbonize the globe, we need a lot of clean hydrogen and we need it soon.
But, it’s also true that this effort will require billions in government and private sector investment. In fact, there is $8 billion in the bipartisan energy bill to create regional hydrogen hubs focused on achieving this goal.
So, while it won’t be easy or cheap to transform hydrogen into a fuel to fight climate change, there’s no question the Houston region is the logical place for a clean hydrogen hub.
Boasting a deep pool of engineering and industry talent, world-class university expertise, a growing startup community and vast hydrogen assets, Houston is well positioned to lead in the creation of hydrogen from natural gas and carbon capture. Texas is not only the nation’s largest hydrogen production sector, but we also lead in windpowered renewable energy and has led in planned solar installations, which will be key to producing low-cost “green” hydrogen.
In other words, we’re well positioned no matter what form of hydrogen ultimately “wins.”
But we have to address even more challenges. We’ll need to forge unseen levels of cooperation across industry competitors and academic institutions.
We’ll need elected officials in Washington to work together to support this emerging industry, because if we fail to act and continue fighting over energy and climate policy, our potential partners in Europe and Japan will find other nations willing to meet their needs.
In fact, the U.S. is already behind in creating a policy framework for hydrogen. But if Congress passes the bipartisan infrastructure bill, this could provide critical funding to help kickstart Houston’s clean hydrogen hub.
We will need a similar grand vision for the state. One which will guide us in retooling our existing emission reduction programs like our $160 million Texas Emissions Reduction Program; focus our local property tax abatement strategies on this new industry; get the Public Utility Commission of Texas to encourage rather than curb renewable energy development; and create new incentives to fund innovation and lure startups.
This vision is one that Kennedy would have well understood. An “Earthshot” that will allow us to conquer climate change and lead the world in creating new markets can also allow us to claim a new title as the “LowCarbon Energy Capital of the World.”
Perlman is the president and CEO of Center for Houston’s Future, a nonprofit that brings business, government and community stakeholders together to engage in fact-based strategic planning, collaboration and action on issues of great importance to the region. The center receives donations from energy companies, but the views expressed here represent an independent assessment.