Problem Statement

Decarbonization has become a politicized issue in recent years. As engineers our mandate is to examine problems and provide solutions, not necessarily to pontificate on the validity of the problems posed or the priorities that should be placed on these problems. In this blog post, we will examine said problems and discuss methodologies to arrive at solutions. A full technical description of this work is available in the paper PSIG 2216One such solution is increasing the use of hydrogen (H2) as a fuel source. Is H2 the hero that we have been waiting for to cancel carbon and lead us to a bright future? Maybe. But it will take a lot of smart work and human ingenuity to cross the “carbon chasm”. H2 will need help to become the super-hero that saves the day, year, millennium…Engineers, like most humans, tend to be negative as the cost of failure often outweighs benefits. But let’s put our pessimism aside and look at some of the positive aspects of hydrogen as an additive to existing fuel streams…