As this energy transition continues to move forward in a somewhat halting fashion, prodded along by energy and climate policy decisions, it is becoming increasingly apparent that displacing a substantial percentage of current fossil fuel usage on a global scale will require a far more diverse set of solutions than just more subsidies for wind and solar. Not that such subsidies are being abandoned, of course: Quite the opposite, in fact. Robert Bryce reported Sunday at Forbes that the Manchin/Schumer cornucopia of climate spending (cynically titled the “Inflation Reduction Act”) passed on a strictly partisan vote by the Senate would direct another $113 billion to just those two rent-seeking industries over the coming decade.

Fortunately, the bill also recognizes that subsidies for those two industries alone won’t do the trick. Manchin’s own statement on the huge tax and spending package recognizes that reality, stating that the legislation “…invests in the technologies needed for all fuel types – from hydrogen, nuclear, renewables, fossil fuels and energy storage – to be produced and used in the cleanest way possible. It is truly all of the above, which means this bill does not arbitrarily shut off our abundant fossil fuels. It invests heavily in technologies to help us reduce our domestic methane and carbon emissions and also helps decarbonize around the world as we displace dirtier products.”

As momentum continues to build around the scale-up of clean hydrogen across the United States, many stakeholders within the government and industry are working collaboratively to resolve some remaining technical issues to ensure a smooth transition to a clean hydrogen economy. One priority issue centers around the distribution of hydrogen, for which pipelines and natural gas will play key roles. A recent study by the University of Columbia Center on Global Energy Policy finds that pipelines, including both dedicated hydrogen pipelines and natural gas blending systems, are the most important systems for hydrogen delivery.

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