, have identified key problems with blending and transporting hydrogen through pipelines.
These projects are seriously concerning. Hydrogen is not natural gas. There are numerous physical and behavioral differences when comparing methane to hydrogen. This is an important point to take home as states begin to toy with the idea of blending the two gases into notoriouslyHydrogen poses serious explosion risks due to its high flammability range, likeliness to leak, and ability to cause embrittlement and cracking within the pipeline.
Aside from safety issues, leakage is also an important consideration when thinking about this issue from a climate perspective. Hydrogen by itself is aestimated to have 30 times the warming power of carbon dioxide in the first 20 years. Hydrogen’s energy density by volume is also much lower than methane, meaning that more hydrogen must be delivered to receive the same energy output if hydrogen is blended into natural gas.
For example, even blending 10% green hydrogen into natural gas pipelines would only reduce emissions by about 3%. Accounting for leaks would further diminish these already slim climate benefits.. Any use of hydrogen in gas distribution systems poses a risk to California communities that is too great to justify with limited and questionable climate benefits.
Amanda McKay is the policy manager for Pipeline Safety Trust. She wrote this commentary for CalMatters.