Apr 23, 2022 3 min read

Developing and deploying clean energy resources is paramount in the midst of global warming, where slashing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 or so is an overriding objective.

Those entrusted with working toward a goal of net zero carbon emissions are employing various initiatives to do so. One emerging strategy is production of hydrogen, which has no carbon, yields no emissions when burned, and can be produced as a clean fuel in numerous ways.

“Hydrogen is a versatile fuel. Clean hydrogen has opportunities to reduce emissions in multiple sectors,” Adam Walters said Wednesday morning, of a resource that serves as a clean alternative to methane.

Walters, executive director of the Pennsylvania Governor’s Office of Energy, and Perry Babb, CEO of the KeyState to Zero project, discussed hydrogen usage in a webinar titled, “Hydrogen: The Future of Clean Energy?”

The hourlong presentation was hosted by Washington & Jefferson College’s Center for Energy Policy and Management, and was the final installment in its Energy Lecture Series for the academic year. The series will resume in the fall, and likely remain virtual, said Corey Young, CEPM’s director.

In an accompanying PowerPoint presentation, Walters described hydrogen as “a small, lightweight, abundant molecule in which gas is the primary form.” It may be small and lightweight, but has powerful potential, according to the speakers.

“You can use hydrogen in heavy industries,” Babb said. “There are opportunities to decarbonize the manufacturing of steel.”

Babb spoke about his start-up company, KeyState to Zero, which plans to synthesize hydrogen at a 7,000-acre site in Clinton County in central Pennsylvania. KeyState to Zero would use the natural gas supply located there as feedstock and as a power source.

Through carbon capture, the company also intends to store greenhouse gas in underground caverns on the site.

Babb and Walters spoke about recent federal legislation that devoted $8 billion toward building four regional hydrogen hubs, including one in the Appalachian region. This technology would be developed at these hubs.

The Appalachian region, they added, hopes to attract federal infrastructure funding to create such a hub.

This was the 10th year of the Energy Lecture Series, and Young is pleased with how the sessions have been accepted following the pandemic-imposed switch from live lectures in W&J’s Yost Auditorium to online sessions. When COVID-19 arrived in 2020, he was concerned that it could scuttle the popular program, which drew crowds of 80 to 100 – mostly students.

“We were so nervous transitioning to online webinars,” Young said Monday afternoon. “Honestly, it’s been very beneficial to do it this way. It’s opened up avenues that we never had. We expect to continue doing webinars online for the foreseeable future.”

The virtual webinars, Young said, have been attracting similarly sized audiences “from a broader group. We’re still drawing students, but we’ve gotten participants from Oxford University in England, someone from an investment firm in England, a representative from the U.S. Department of Energy – people who certainly wouldn’t have made it here before.”

Young also is impressed by the diversity of subjects CEPM has been able to present, with national and global focuses as well as regional.

He lauded Linda Ritzer, program manager and policy analyst for CEPM, for her diligent work with the program, which is totally grant-funded. “Linda has been tremendously helpful in organizing these events and lining up speakers. We’re so glad we have her on board.”