"Bloomberg" agency reported that an import terminal in the port of Kobe, western Japan, will receive for the first time a shipment of "hydrogen", next March, as Japan, the fifth most prominent polluter in the world, is looking for ways to replace its use of heavy fossil fuels, and to fulfill its pledge that Become greenhouse gas-free by 2050.
The agency suggested that shipments of zero-emissions fuel would increase dramatically in the next three decades.
Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd., the owner of the reservoir and the country's only developer of the hydrogen supply chain, announced that this massive shift will require Japan to import fuel using a fleet of specialized tankers.
It will also represent a good opportunity for the emerging industry, which the Bloomberg Research Center estimates could meet about a quarter of the world's energy needs by the middle of this century.
"Hydrogen is indispensable for Japan to reach the goal of zero emissions. Renewable energy alone is not sufficient to meet the country's huge energy needs," the agency quoted the head of the company's hydrogen project development center, Mutohiko Nishimura, as saying.
"Bloomberg" pointed out that many countries are building energy centers that use wind, sun and batteries, intensifying their efforts to abandon fossil fuels, in the context of combating global warming. But the agency said that is a challenge in densely populated Japan.
- Hydrogen instead of carbon
According to the Bloomberg Research Center, hydrogen offers the greatest potential for carbon abandonment, in sectors such as steel, cement and heavy transport. This could be critical, as Japan embarks on its path toward ending greenhouse gas emissions.
The agency considered that hydrogen poses a dilemma to some extent in the shift to clean energy, as its production from fossil fuels is still cheaper than its production from renewable energy. However, the European Union and South Korea are betting on hydrogen extracted from renewable energy sources, to become less expensive, with lower costs for solar and wind energy.
Shin Furono, a senior official with the Asian Global Warming Investment Group, said that $ 425 billion should be invested if hydrogen is to represent 40 percent of Japan's energy needs. He based his estimate on an extrapolation of South Korea's hydrogen road map, which suggests a $ 136 billion fuel investment, to reach 20 percent of its energy needs by 2050.
- liquefied natural gas
Bloomberg pointed to the importance of switching to hydrogen in the development of resource-poor Japan, for the LNG industry for more than 50 years, through huge investments in import infrastructure, and being a major buyer for many export projects.
Jochen Eckholt, a member of the executive board of the German technology company, Siemens Energy, considered that the development of the hydrogen industry, as it did to LNG, "will not take decades," adding that "this will not happen overnight."
"Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd." is establishing a global supply chain that produces hydrogen from brown coal in Australia and builds ships and storage tanks, as well as hydrogen-powered power generation facilities, for energy production and heating.
The agency quoted Mutohiko Nishimura as saying that, in order to give up carbon in 2050, Japan must import 36 million tons of liquefied hydrogen, 100 times more than its expected imports in 2030, when it is expected that the commercial use of the fuel in the country will begin.
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