Hydrogen use in an urban district: environmental impacts a possible scenario based on coal

Abstract

Hydrogen technology is becoming ever more relevant because hydrogen use can help containing<br />greenhouse gas emission if CO2 capture and storage techniques are implemented in the hydrogen production<br />technology (when hydrogen is produced from fossil fuels). For this reason this work aims at carrying<br />out a comparative analysis of possible energy scenarios in urban districts: a medium-small Italian city is<br />taken into consideration, and its energy consumptions, both for domestic and industrial use, are evaluated.<br />The current situation, in which conventional technologies meet the energy needs, is compared to a hypothetical<br />scenario where clean energy vectors, namely hydrogen and electricity, are utilized together with<br />traditional primary energy supply. Hydrogen production by means of coal decarbonization is investigated,<br />as well as hydrogen use in advanced energy systems for transport and for electric and thermal energy<br />generation.