Hydrogen breakthrough: products must find buyers

Hydrogen plays a very important role in the scene for sustainable and CO2 neutral technologies. What opportunities, problems and risks arise with this technology? Gerd Schauer will talk about this on 20.4. from 18 o’clock in the Audimax of the FH Technikum Wien next to some other experts. Before that, he will give us some insights into this highly interesting topic.

Gerd Schauer is a lecturer at UAS Technikum Wien and was Technology Manager at the energy company Verbund until his retirement.

What role does hydrogen already play today?
Gerd Schauer: In order to get a picture of the role of hydrogen, it is essential to first examine the energy situation as a whole. Hydrogen must first be produced; it is an energy carrier (and not an energy source) and will therefore initially address various production processes. There is already an established, large market for hydrogen in the chemical industry and for fuels and lubricants. However, for energy use, the efficiency chains are crucial.

In which areas can hydrogen improve our everyday lives in the future?
Gerd Schauer: The first approaches to hydrogen infrastructure go back decades. At that time, research projects demonstrated the feasibility of decentralized energy and hydrogen production, long-term storage and use of hydrogen in single-family homes, for example for heating and cooking.
A strong incentive lies in the substitution of fossil energy sources and thus in the saving of high energy import costs; water is produced again as the end product of the utilization chain. The role of hydrogen for energy storage may also become interesting.

Where in everyday life will we soon be using this technology effectively?
Gerd Schauer: Currently, the high demand for hydrogen is largely generated from fossil energy. Intensive research is being conducted into alternative and efficient production processes. The cost of fuel cells for electromobility applications is still high, and trials for passenger and freight transportation are already underway. Ultimately, however, it is the products that have to find buyers on the market that will help this technology achieve a breakthrough.

What problems are currently still arising in dealing with hydrogen?
Gerd Schauer: Surplus energy, i.e. cheap electricity, is a key to electrolysis for decentralized or centralized hydrogen production. We still have little experience in handling hydrogen in the general public, further training is essential here, safety issues for the various applications can be solved.

More about this at the event, where experts from ÖBB and Siemens, among others, will be present in addition to Gerd Schauer: