February 08, 2024 [Oil Price]- Industries such as steel, cement, and heavy transport account for some one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), rendering breakthrough zero-carbon industrial products one of the most valuable assets of the world’s climate change portfolio.
Heavy carbon emitting manufacturers all over the world are making the switch to cleaner industrial processes such as low-carbon electricity for industrial heat and hydrogen-based steelmaking. These companies are desperate to find a new technology that enables this. While quality control remains paramount, lower GHG-emitting industrial products have become the preferred choice.
At the leading edge of this transformation is a North American company, GH Power, that has developed four high-quality zero-carbon industrial products: zero-carbon electricity, zero-carbon hydrogen, zero-carbon iron and zero-carbon high-purity alumina.
GH Power and its team of engineers are bringing the worlds of green hydrogen, green alumina, and exothermic heat that can be fed into the grid using proprietary reactor technology that relies on only two inputs: scrap aluminum and water, which generates zero waste and zero Scope 1 carbon emissions. And a new partnership launched in January adds further credibility to industries as they make the switch. At the beginning of 2024, GH Power partnered with Fresh Coast Climate Solutions, a premier carbon consultant, to develop a comprehensive 3rd party verified green certification and assurance program that could catapult zero-carbon industrial products to a new level. Fresh Coast Climate Solutions provides independent reviews of the climate impacts of a range of clean technologies for global technology startups, technology accelerators, and climate investors.
Last year, GH Power showcased the first 100% green hydrogen power technology. This year, it is hoping to forge a path that offers a mark of excellence for its zero-carbon solutions through certification for industries that adopt its products. This could give users of their products 3rd party assurance of offsets for their own carbon emissions.
The New Industrial Renaissance
The latest Accenture research shows that less than 18% of companies are on track to reach net zero emissions by 2050. The big push is about to come now.
According to Accenture, “just three years of intensive cross-industry collaboration can turn industrial decarbonization from an immovable economic barrier to an economic force compelling all industries to accelerate net zero action.”
Heavy industry (steel, metals, mining, cement, chemicals, freight, and logistics) generates 40% of total global CO2 emissions, but Accenture is confident that new decarbonization strategies will enable growth for these industries.
Industry is responsible for 35% of the U.S. energy consumption. The implications of that are vast. That’s why manufacturers are under immense pressure to switch to low- or zero-carbon products in their production processes.
Of course, industry does nothing if there’s no profit to be made or if it adds product or quality risks while doing it. While the benefit to the world is a drastic reduction in emissions on the front line of the climate change battle, for industries, there are growing financial incentives—both carrot and stick.
The EU is employing a stick in the form of carbon border charges for products produced using dirty inputs and inefficient technologies.
In North America, it’s more about carrots, though. This is an era of technological breakthroughs, and today’s industry leaders are racing to capitalize on the funding opportunities that any clean tech breakthrough presents.
For starters, low- or zero-carbon industrial products, such as those developed by GH Power, build a direct in-road to state and federal contracts and environmental initiatives. The same is true for products manufactured by industries using these clean methods.
In other words, it makes economic sense.
That’s why the market potential for hydrogen technology is poised to hit $11 trillion by 2050, according to Bank of America.
Over 60% of industrial emissions come from the iron, steel, chemicals, non-metallic minerals, and nonferrous metals industries, according to Forbes.
It’s not a long shot.
Giant steelmakers such as ArcelorMittal (implementing their XCARB decarbonization program – XCarb™ | ArcelorMittal) and ThyssenKrupp ( implementing their Blue Mint decarbonizing program – #nextgenerationsteel | thyssenkrupp Steel (thyssenkrupp-steel.com) are already working to adopt sustainable technology for sustainable steel production using green hydrogen. And Europe’s largest steel plant is getting up to 2 billion euros to make the shift.
There are incentives all over the place, including the cement industry, which traditionally uses coal to process decomposing limestone. Here, too, one of the world’s biggest cement manufacturers is developing a new process that uses electricity instead of coal, taking things one step further by capturing carbon in the process.
The First 100% Green Hydrogen Production
GH Power came to the forefront in 2022, just as Russia was invading Ukraine, prompting a worldwide push focused on energy security and defending against the weaponization of oil and gas.
It all helped to give much greater impetus to the clean energy transition, both from an energy security and climate change perspective.
Canada was among the first movers here, taking decisive steps by signing a Joint Declaration of Intent with Germany to collaborate on the export of clean Canadian hydrogen to Europe’s economic powerhouse to create a Transatlantic supply chain corridor. Canada is planning to be exporting hydrogen by 2025.
At the center of this supply chain is GH Power, which has received over $2 million in federal funding to help advance this initiative with its participating partners.
GH Power’s hydrogen-producing reactor process is proprietary and breakthrough.
The reactor is believed to be the very first of its kind to continuously operate extracting baseload energy and hydrogen from the rapid oxidation of metal in water.
It’s modular and scalable and is planned to enable local microgrids to supply reliable green energy solutions anywhere, anytime–even in the most remote areas of the world.
The reaction is exothermic and self-sustaining, and everything else the energy transition is desperate for – safe, quiet, and deployable in last-mile locations for energy, hydrogen, and alumina buyers.
GH Power could help resolve a major problem in the green hydrogen segment, which traditionally relies on an energy-intensive process of electrolysis. In order to produce just 1 MW equivalent of electricity from hydrogen through electrolysis, you need around 4 MW of solar or wind power, rendering it expensive and inefficient. GH Power’s process is said to create green hydrogen for an estimated 45% cheaper than existing electrolysis technology—and only 1/100th of the land required by solar-powered electrolyzers.
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