Wealthy nations can lead by example in cutting carbon emissions, though much faster action is needed to stem global warming, US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on Friday in an interview with The Associated Press.
Granholm and other senior energy and environment officials from the Group of Seven advanced economies are in Hokkaido in northern Japan this week for meetings on climate change, energy security and related issues.
“That’s what we hope to do is lead by example,” Granholm said after touring the world’s first and only liquefied hydrogen carrier, a ship that showcases Japanese efforts to transform heavily polluting coal into emissions-free hydrogen power. At the G-7 summit in May last year, member nations set a common goal of achieving a fully or predominantly decarbonised electricity supply by 2035.
The fact that carbon emissions are continuing to rise despite massive investments in cleaner energy is “very disappointing,” Granholm said.
Still, the approval of major fossil fuel projects such as the Willow project on Alaska’s petroleum-rich North Slope has drawn criticism that it runs counter to President Joe Biden’s pledges to cut carbon emissions and move to clean energy. There are also objections to the project’s environmental impact.
Environmentalists say Japan’s strategy of relying on fossil fuels such as coal, even with technologies like carbon capture that prevent emissions from escaping into the atmosphere, and failure to more fully embrace renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, fails to set a persuasive example for other major polluters such as China and India.Granholm said that moves toward embracing renewable, clean energy sources, including hydrogen, nonetheless “give hope to others to be able to do it as the technology lowers the cost.”
The Suiso Frontier, the ship Granholm toured Friday as it was docked in the port of Otaru, is the world’s only liquefied hydrogen marine carrier. Built by Japanese ship maker Kawasaki Heavy Industries, it carries hydrogen cooled to minus 253 degrees Celsius (minus 423 degrees Fahrenheit) in a liquid form that occupies one eight hundredth of the volume it would occupy as a gas.
The 8,000-ton ship was built to carry hydrogen produced at a coal gasification facility in Australia to Japan for power generation and to fuel vehicles, among other uses. The Biden administration is turning to hydrogen as an energy source for vehicles, manufacturing and generating electricity. It’s offering USD 8 billion to entice the nation’s industries, engineers and planners to figure out how to produce and deliver clean hydrogen.
“We’re interested in taking this to the next level in making sure that it can be derived from clean sources,” Granholm said while standing on the bridge of the vessel, whose home port is Kobe.
American companies made final pitches earlier this month in bidding for a new program that will create regional networks, or “hubs,” of hydrogen producers, consumers and infrastructure.
The aim is to accelerate the availability and use of the colorless, odorless gas that already powers some vehicles and trains. The Department of Energy is required to fund at least four hydrogen hubs by 2026. The hubs are to demonstrate various ways of producing hydrogen, including fossil fuels, nuclear power and renewable energy sources. The challenge is to ensure such projects are commercially feasible, that there is adequate demand from industries for the hydrogen.The Department of Energy has estimated that at least USD 85 billion is needed to establish a US hydrogen industry.