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Open Hydrogen Initiative Advancing transparency and credibility to hydrogen markets

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Hydrogen is a potential energy game changer, but high variability in its carbon intensity makes it difficult for governments, industry, and investors to discover and accurately compare low-carbon hydrogen solutions.

That’s where the Open Hydrogen Initiative (OHI) comes in. We are building an open-sourced and standardized accounting methodology for hydrogen emissions at the facility level to harmonize the market when it comes to climate solutions and support global trade in low-carbon hydrogen as a valuable commodity in the energy transition.

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Advance transparency

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Contextualize climate investments

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Help harmonize markets

icon - support the development of a globally traded hydrogen market

Support the development of a globally traded hydrogen market

A WORLD-CLASS HYDROGEN MEASUREMENT TOOLKIT

A suite of analytical methodologies and protocols spanning major hydrogen production routes including all commercial solid, gas, and power conversation technologies and all the associated energy feedstocks.

An open-source modeling toolkit based on the suite of methodologies and protocols, allowing users to assess the carbon intensity of their operations in a precise and practical format. The modeling platform will employ Data Quality Management (DQM) methodology to assess confidence and quality of final model results as a function of the quality of inputs.

A launch of demonstration projects from stakeholders on the characterization of hydrogen production processes will provide a better understanding of energy and material flows and major emissions hotspots. Identifying real-world applicability and credible carbon intensity values for a range of production methods ensure a sustainable growth trajectory of hydrogen in the marketplace.

OHI Stakeholder Commentary

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Have questions about joining the Open Hydrogen Initiative?

About OHI

The hydrogen rainbow is a useless metric. Here’s why:

Hydrogen’s carbon intensity is often associated with a color representing the method by which hydrogen is produced. However, hydrogen molecules of the same color category can still have highly variable carbon footprints, as the “color wheel” does not consider all the factors that can affect the emissions profile from one hydrogen production facility to another. With hydrogen applications becoming a part of many government and organization decarbonization strategies, precise and consistent tools to measure hydrogen’s carbon intensity at the facility level are a foundational requirement for credibility.

GTI Energy and S&P Global Commodity Insights, with technical contribution from the National Energy Technology Laboratory, developed the Open Hydrogen Initiative to answer this market need. Through the initiative, a broad range of stakeholders are collaborating to develop open-source protocols that will unlock hydrogen’s potential to decarbonize energy-intensive sectors.

To learn more about opportunities to participate, please contact us today.

While the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) provided technical guidance on OHI, the lab’s technical input is by no means an endorsement by the U.S. Federal Government in OHI’s methodology.

OHI News

Hydrogen has the potential to play an important role in decarbonizing energy-intensive sectors, but credible and open-source protocols are needed to vet the environmental credibility of a specific production pathway, given the variability even among the same technologies. Learn how OHI is working to redefine how the world measures and benchmarks the carbon intensity of hydrogen production at the asset level.

Why OHI?

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Global
in scope

OHI operates with global member participation, and its carbon accounting framework will be applicable to facilities in all regions of the world. OHI looks beyond national needs and aims to harmonize the global clean hydrogen marketplace.

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Inclusive of industry participation

OHI welcomes the substantive and collaborative contribution of the energy community. At each stage of development, the OHI team works in unison with key stakeholders including academia, eNGOs, and governments to vet, refine, and improve its work.

Facility Specific Carbon Accounting

Facility-specific carbon accounting

OHI methodology will be tailor-made to vet the carbon intensity of hydrogen produced from a specific facility. This approach makes OHI distinct from popular lifecycle assessment tools in circulation today that conduct general carbon accounting for a class of technology, rather than a facility, at the regional or national level.

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Open-sourced and therefore replicable

Once developed, OHI deliverables will be open-source to ensure credibility and transparency.

FAQ

A tool that focusses on accurately measuring the carbon intensity of hydrogen production across a wide range of primary production pathways can provide market participants with a clear understanding of the decarbonization potential – and value – of given kilogram of hydrogen. By focusing on carbon intensity at the asset level, comparisons can move away from color labels towards a more universal understanding of the environmental benefits and value of hydrogen as a decarbonization fuel.

Such a tool can play an important role in assessing the value of hydrogen investments aimed at delivering decarbonization targets, as well as providing more robust data sets for hydrogen consumers, producers and traders who need to make informed choices about their options to leverage diverse technologies to meet net-zero commitments.

Contact Us

To learn more about opportunities to participate in the Open Hydrogen Initiative (OHI) or other questions about the initiative please submit a contact form.