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SUMMARY:Why hydrogen is of strategic importance to scale-up the energy tra
 nsition - Dr Dirk Smit (Corporate Chief Scientist\, Shell)
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20240528T170000
DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20240528T180000
UID:https://new.talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/39eda9a3-84a8-4fb9-94b0-6910e1d9c9
 92/
DESCRIPTION:Hydrogen is projected to play a significant if not crucial rol
 e in the future energy mix\, with the IEA forecasting an increase of almos
 t an order of magnitude compared to hydrogen consumption today.\n\nThis in
 crease is driven by the possible dual use of hydrogen: to provide a clean 
 or green high energy density fuel (which can also be stored longer term) a
 s well as a clean “chemical building block” towards more circular sust
 ainable chemical manufacturing industries.\n\nCurrent technology to produc
 e large volumes of hydrogen with low/zero CO2 footprint at competitive low
  cost (e.g. < 1 USD/kg) struggle to scale to the projected volumes needed 
 in a few decades while being competitively priced. Without a realistic vie
 w to low-cost\, bulk volume hydrogen\, the energy transition may significa
 ntly slow down as the decarbonization of energy dense industries next to l
 ight vehicle mobility leads to sharp increases in the demand for electrifi
 cation with renewable power sources. This seems unrealistic as the require
 d infrastructure would need to increase 4- 10 times relative to existing p
 ower grids which may happen eventually but is unlikely in just 2-3 decades
 .\n\nFurthermore\, even with more modest growth the functionality of futur
 e power grids will be much more complex\, requiring a significant scale up
  of digitization\, including AI\, which requires large amounts of energy. 
 The possibility of producing hydrogen generated in situ from iron-rich roc
 ks in the subsurface while not new\, may help provide diversity in decarbo
 nization path ways creating more optionality in businesses and economic mo
 dels. However\, naturally occurring serpentinization reaction mechanisms a
 re relatively slow\, hence stimulation techniques may need to be developed
  to make this a scalable opportunity.\n\nDr Dirk Smit will put these ideas
  in the context of recent discoveries in as much as this is known in the p
 ublic domain. He will discuss new insights and ideas partly developed with
  colleagues at MIT to radically increase production rates in a sustainable
  way\, which brings the prospect of fundamentally changing the landscape f
 or a carbon-constrained energy future.\nSpeakers:\nDr Dirk Smit (Corporate
  Chief Scientist\, Shell)
LOCATION:Oxford Martin School (Lecture Theatre)\, 34 Broad Street OX1 3BD
TZID:Europe/London
URL:https://new.talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/39eda9a3-84a8-4fb9-94b0-6910e1d9c9
 92/
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DESCRIPTION:Talk:Why hydrogen is of strategic importance to scale-up the e
 nergy transition - Dr Dirk Smit (Corporate Chief Scientist\, Shell)
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