Hydrogen Proposal

To win the election you need to support developing clean methods to extract hydrogen from Albertas fossil fuels by capturing and storing the carbon. That way you can support the fossil fuel industry and reduce emissions

Create a 'hydrogen highway' with filling stations for private vehicles and commercial vehicles, as is being done from California to BC. In BC there are already private vehicle hydrogen filling stations in several parts of the lower mainland and Vancouver Island. Cars can be filled in a few minutes and back onto the road creating no exhaust, whereas electric vehicles must sit for 45 minutes to recharge. In Alberta, the first hydrogen highway could extend from Lethbridge, Calgary, and Red Deer to Edmonton. Hydrogen vehicles are produced by several of the major car companies.

Electric Vehicles are the future, but battery technology still has it's limitations. There are good hydrogen vehicles on the market, and a continued interest in developing them, but there is a lack of places to fuel them. I recognize that in general, the use case for hydrogen as a vehicle fuel tends to be better for commercial vehicles: Semi-trucks, Busses, etc. What I would like to see is: The development of commercial hydrogen fuelling stations, either through incentives, or direct government owned and operated, that are intended for large trucks, but are available to all public users, and are clearly marketed as such. This way we develop infrastructure that supports commercial shipping with Hydrogen fuel, but also enables private users to fuel up, so we don't need to maintain double the infrastructure during the early stages. I'd also like to see this investment scheme expand beyond Alberta borders nationwide, as it supports Alberta industry. An Alberta funded or owned chain of Hydrogen Fuelling stations nationwide would both support the growth of the Hydrogen shipping industry, and as the industry matures, would provide income to the Alberta government directly and indirectly. This also enables individuals to buy hydrogen fuel cell private vehicles that are currently on the market, however if fuel cell powered private vehicles don't pan out, the fuelling stations are primarily for commercial use anyways and so they won't be wasted.

I applaud the move to green hydrogen but blue must be right out. It is greenwashing nonsense from the fossil fuel sector and must be skipped on our way to a net zero economy. Please also immediately eliminate all fossil fuel sector subsidies and set legally binding net zero targets for 2035. Setting nondescript targets for 2050 is extremely disingenuous given the urgency of the climate crisis.

Hello, On this topic there is also discussion of ammonia (NH3) as a hydrogen carrier. Benefits of this form is that there are already an established industry model and regulations. Please consider ammonia as a viable "hydrogen" economy.

I think it's important we not overhype a technology that relies on natural gas extraction for nearly all production and demands a vastly more complicated infrastructure. Hydrogen damages the vessels its stored in, has to be kept temperatures colder than liquid nitrogen, and operates at enormously high pressure due to its inherently low density. It's a carbon adjacent, immature, complicated technology that will take decades to find widespread adoption if at all. Beyond that, use of Hydrogen for fuel will compete with its other major uses. On the other hand, nuclear energy is here today, safely at work generating carbon free energy that existing electric vehicles and heaters can utilize. Nuclear waste can be, if we can only muster the political will, safely sequestered kilometers below the surface in regions that will be geologically and hydrologically stable for millions of years. We have an abundance of such locations in this country. All the solutions we require are available for us, as a province and a country, to start moving on today.

Finally a government that looks forward into the future and isn’t corrupt like the UCP. Hopefully the NDP is messaging to all Albertans since donations have far exceeded the opposition.

We should also be investigating and supporting innovation in nuclear power generation.

Why export hydrogen? Why not use our capacity, expertise, geology, cheap gas, robust wind and solar resources to bring industry to Alberta. Why follow the gas model sending gas to the US? Over build renewables and storage to clean and firm the grid. Use the excess renewables to create H particularly in the summer. Store it in the salt caverns we have. Entice industry to set up shop in Alberta not with tax breaks, clean cheap maybe free power. Read the Calgary Policy School ( Blake Schaffer) papers on Hydrogen. Ditto with Tony Seba ReThinkX on superpower,Jared Moore on Thermal Hydrogen There’s a massive opportunity for Hydrogen to play a role in Alberta’s Abundant Energy Future. The ideas president above need focus

Also try to look into a broad range of uses for the hydrogen being produced. I see there is a Canadian prototype fusion reactor being built in the UK.....why is one not being built here in AB right next to the readily available Hydrogen it needs? This is future tech from an energy perspective and we could be at the leading edge of it.

Utilizing existing infrastructure, technological know how and access to abundant resources (nat gas) make AB ideal as a competitive and reliable H2 provider.

This is a great proposal. It leverages our abilities producing and handling blue hydrogen to shift towards green hydrogen as the Alberta grid decarbonizes - spot on, that is how we learn how to do this well. Hydrogen may not be the best fuel to use in ever application, but where electricity and batteries don't make sense is exactly where hydrogen does make sense - that is how we actually decarbonize, by using the lowest emissions fuel that meet the power requirements necessary. My only feedback is, look at the local market for hydrogen demand more closely (and as a key starting point). We have lot's of decarbonizing to do, and that demand (not the export demand) can form the basis of your strategy.

Which form of green energy do you intend to use, to produce hydrogen, also what is wrong with blue hydrogen?

Use Eavor's geothermal technology to generate the power needed to mine Hydrogen. Don't use Natural gas as that puts CO2 into the atmosphere

I truly appreciate the hydrogen proposal. I see economic recovery and prosperity for the province and an outstanding opportunity to provide growth and prosperity in rural areas, that, in turn, can bring rural voters to the NDP party.

Blue hydrogen potential is the advantage Alberta has. Green hydrogen does not make sense as you would be better off leaving it as electricity and using electric vehicles. Blue hydrogen is the Alberta Advantage. Green hydrogen makes absolutely no thermodynamic sense.

There has been significant interest in fossil free steel and this is done using hydrogen. There is currently a demonstration plant running in Sweden for this purpose. Now that Alberta is on the blue hydrogen train, this development is something that should be considered for the industrial heartland. Iron ore could be transported from eastern Canada, value added hydrogen steel production could be done in Alberta and finished products shipped out. This would create jobs and aid in the diversification of the Alberta economy. See the Hybrit video from LKAB website below. https://www.lkab.com/en/about-lkab/technological-and-process-development/research-collaborations/hybrit--for-fossil-free-steel/

I submit that green hydrogen should take priority over blue hydrogen because it is a more effective way of reducing GHGs. In support of this statement I submit the following link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590174520300155#s0120 We have only limited time left to avert climate catastrophe and we need to use the most effective means available.

European Union pledged to be proactive. Euractiv will be launched this summer. Germany has its own national hydrogen strategy. Sweden is making steel from Hydrogen, it gets subsidized by its government. Why not Canada? Alberta could start , and not take down mountains for metallurgical coal! (That's what's going to happen if there is no objection from the public!)

How many permanent jobs will this create?

I burn natural gas in a high efficiency boiler for heat and hot water. That process is my family's main contribution to CO2 emissions. Now we have the federal carbon tax and I am stuck with no current technology to replace the boiler for a much lower CO2 emission. I am wondering about a fuel cell boiler and hydrogen piped to the home instead of natural gas. Will this ever happen ?

If green hydrogen... then yes I would support it. If your plan is for blue hydrogen then no.

We need to kickstart our Hydrogen economy NOW. This is a unique opportunity to rebuild the bleeding oil & gas sector while simultaneously progressing towards our zero emission goals. This is an absolute win-win. That said, it's imperative we align our export goals with BC, ON, QC ahead of time to avoid conflict. Technologically, vision should be directed towards heavy auto, freight, and rail rather than consumer auto. Municipal Hydrogen Hubs could fuel city transit, LRT and eventually Edmonton-Calgary high speed rail - all with cheap, locally produced, zero emission Hydrogen. Blue Hydrogen is a clear path forward, with CO2 Sequestration projects already online (eg. ACTL System) however a portion of royalties should be reserved to assist with future conversion to Green Hydrogen. With our vast workforce and decades of O&G expertise it's embarrassing to think we may fall behind less experienced jurisdictions on this projected $700B market.

You should add "Provide incentives for purchases of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and for installation of hydrogen at gas stations.

This is a great start for diversifying the resource base in Alberta. What I find is always missing is that we focus so much on only exporting a raw product for use in other markets, keeping us dependent on a commodity-based business yet again, ultimately still exposing us to future booms and busts. We need a better thought-out strategy to develop technologies and manufacturing in Alberta that will provide value add from these products. (Similar to the strategy we are trying to do with petrochemical plants). I am thinking that in addition to developing the raw resources we should focus on developing the use cases for hydrogen and sell this to other markets. This is the type of export we should think of doing more of: Some thoughts as follow as a non-technical person: - Become a manufacturer and recycler of hydrogen fuel cell and other storage technologies - Association of data centers powered by hydrogen - Combined Wind/Solar energy with hydrogen storage - Technology to produce cement, steel, metal from hydrogen - Electronic manufacturing such as semiconductors

Love your proposal! Loved almost all the work you and the NDP party did when in power. Will support the party next election again. Thank you for all your hard work Ibi

Fully support this. Pleased to see an emphasis on green hydrogen.

I strongly oppose blue hydrogen, using fossil fuels

Hydrogen is an excellent choice in moving forward to a greener Alberta. The goal however, should be to enable individuals to make their own power and sell it back to the grid via an "Internet of all Things". Individuals would buy and sell power as needed and thus solar should be added to the mix. If Covid has taught us anything it is that we should be more self reliant on many levels. Albertans should be given the opportunity to not be under the thumb of yet another centrally controlled power resource.

My compliments on some fowars thinking that was long overdue!

I noticed as I read the responses you received mentioned only the science. I am also concern about the jobs being for Albertan. You promote this as an ALBERTA project but you state you have to bring in skilled workers? Is there really not one person in Alberta who is qualified? You also mentioned that you would also develop incentive programs for larger hydrogen projects. Are these projects going to be limited to Alberta companies or again will be be giving money to other countries to build non Alberta owed hydrogen projects?

I will assume that you are aware of the spinoff business from UofC research on hydrogen generation? https://proton.energy/

Anything cleaner and less dangerous than our currently produced fuels is worth studying. But aside from mostly commercially used fuels and electric vehicles, what I've been waiting for is how to promote and better use solar energy, particularly for homes. It may be a long transition but if our govt. was willing to help, maybe with grants or forgivable loans, it could become a viable alternative.

Processing Hydrogen is half the efficiency of batteries. Highly flammable, invisible flame. Storage difficulty. Odorless. Couldn't tell if it was leaking. Highly dangerous. Just another Oil industry last gasp. Better off creating Carbon Fiber products with 3D printing.

Hydrogen is energy-intensive to create and to store, but it combusts or converts in a fuel cell with virtually zero emissions. Toyota is introducing the 2nd-generation of a hydrogen car, and Toyota makes pretty shrewd bets on long term trends as the Prius hybrid shows. Our energy industry currently has great potential to be a producer. However we should also look at being an R&D provider for hydrogen using products and services, let's not just be the raw material maker again.

I propose that you help Albertans retrofit their homes with renewable energy sources such as subsidizing solar panels. The NDP might assist with tankless hot water heaters. On many farms geothermal energy might be an option with financial governmental assistance and expertise. Albertans need to be educated about renewable sources of energy that are practical and easy to adapt to currently existing homes. Our ideas of solar energy are passé: multiple short lived storage batteries, limited use of appliances, no energy storage on cloudy days, inconvenient, cumbersome, takes up space, etc. Textiles: couldn’t we grow flax to make linen? We have lots of agricultural land. Could there be a market? What about hemp that creates an endurable organic fabric? What about sheeps’ wool? Could there be a centralized place where processing takes place from the field to fashion? Could Alberta in the future be known for their fine natural fabrics just like Ireland? Tiny home manufacturing: financial backing to start making tiny homes for export, use on recreational property, affordable housing alternative, shelters for the homeless, etc. Or a place that converts shipping containers into homes. Manufacture yurts. These ideas would create jobs that did not exist before. Water: get fresh potable water onto reserves with water treatment plants and educate natives on how to run and maintain these plants. Job creation! Covid related jobs making PPE, ventilators, gowns, etc. Stop relying on China for our necessities. Build better senior/assisted living homes with individual rooms to safeguard the elderly. Employ more qualified people to give quality care. No privatizing to greedy profit driven charlatans. Discourage coal production at the headwaters of the Old Man. Send the Aussies packing. Twin the highways through the Crowsnest Pass like has been proposed for three decades. Infrastructure jobs. More smaller meat processing plants to get rid of American Cargill and Brazilian Lakeside. Give Albertans jobs. Prevent large outbreaks of Covid or E Coli as has happened in recent history. What avenues will Covid force us down? What will be our needs in the foreseeable future? Some Albertans have adapted to this more restrictive way of living by creating new businesses? Jason Kenney is a flipping disaster. I am glad he inherited the ass kicking that will more and more become his reality. He doesn’t care about people when there is a budget to balance and gray haired old males to please who mostly enjoy an above average way of existing. Do your best. We need you back along with diversification. No more talking. Action is what we need.

I found some very good ideas in the proposals and comments. However, after reading some of the "other" proposals and some of the "other" comments, it sounds like we are looking at hydrogen to solve most (or all) of our energy problems. Rather than do everything, I suggest that we pursue only those hydrogen initiatives which utilize hydrogen from the source to produce useful energy at a high thermodynamic efficiency.

This is a plan to turn the fossil fuels into hydrogen which will do nothing to reduce green house gasses. Any tom, dick or mary can produce hydrogen in their own back yard. How will Alberta become a leader in this industry when every one can in a thousand different ways. Another UCP plan to promote big oil while trying to fool the people of Alberta. Just like your stupid plastic recycling plan.

It's a good idea to support R&D and try to solve some of the significant challenges preventing the effective use of hydrogen as a fuel, such as carbon capture and storage (CCS). However, it's foolish not to fully exploit the economically viable options that we have today: wind, solar and geothermal. Especially since solar and wind can generate electricity for green hydrogen. However, your hydrogen proposal doesn't mention investing in wind and solar infrastructure, just fossil fuels. Don't forget that the original plan to mine the oil sands was predicated on solving the problem of the remediating the toxic colloids that are stored in tailings ponds. Over fifty years later, this problem has not been solved, and it could cost Canadians more than the oil sands ever contributed to our economy. It's easy to see how the same environmental and economic failures could happen with gray and blue hydrogen.

Green hydrogen (produced by green electricity) is feasible and great. However, Blue Hydrogen (produced from natural gas) requires extensive CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) of the produced CO2, which is very expensive and not very feasible. The CO2 may leak out in 10,000 years, in which case the money spent on CCS is wasted. The NDP Alberta Government was against CCS for making coal clean, why is the NDP now promoting Blue Hydrogen? This does not make sense. Using excess power from wind and solar to convert water to hydrogen for storage (which is Green Hydrogen) makes sense.

The trouble with blue hydrogen is what to do with the CO2. CCS will sequester 5 tonnes of oxygen for every tonne of carbon sequestered and will actually cause CO2 concetrations in the admosphere to increase! It will also cause sea levels to rise and waste the energy inthe natural gas so is totally counter productive. The NDP were against CCS when it was for clean coal, why are they for it for "clean natural gas"? It will take over 30% more natural gas to turn natural gas into hydrogen. Go back to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle as Replace is a losing proposition.

We've made a good start on this but we need to ensure more of the AZETEC plan is made in Alberta! https://www.ballard.com/about-ballard/newsroom/news-releases/2019/05/07/ballard-next-gen-fuel-cell-modules-to-power-freight-trucks-in-canadian-hydrogen-project

Your proposal of making dirty hydrogen from natural gas is not viable, not cost effective, and unethical. Natural gas is a 20 to 90 x more potent greenhouse gas than CO2. Enough of this dinosaur thinking!

Love the goal to plan out 40 years. I believe, that any proposals must consider a little more distance with respect to pollution and the environment. The industrial revolution for the last 250ish years has brought us to the brink of catastrophe that exists today. No longer pillaging and contaminating this world of ours has to become a higher priority. "The solution to pollution is dilution" can no longer be a factor! Plan for our children.......

Hydrogen driven fuel cells is the future - including for cars. One significant remaining issue is having a network of hydrogen refueling stations. This could be achieved using existing gas stations. A liquid is hydrogenated and can be transported to to gas stations. The hydrogenated liquid fills up the hydrogen tank in the car. The hydrogen is released from the liquid to fuel the fuel cell. The dehydrogenated liquid is recycled at the gas station. Research on this was conducted at Berkeley Research Centre. Fund moving this research into implementation here in Alberta.

This is quite ambitious. The more reliable use of hydrogen would be from H2O. And in theory it could be a completely renewable resource, as water would become hydrogen and oxygen, which could be produced to make water, to be used as our fuel, or Visa Versa. Alberta should strong go this route without question, as a person who has lived through 3 dramatic O&G crashes.

I agree with this initiative and sincerely hope it goes through. Clean energy is the way to go!

I think that the production and storage of hydrogen as an energy consumption source should be unapologetically explored. After all, our reality has been exploration! Extra effort to enlighten Albertans about the socio-economic costs and benefits of the hydrogen plan, among other things must be a priority.

in grade 7 science class we took water h2o and produced hydrogen

Producing green hydrogen can be used to buffer variable power supply to the grid, and be used to generate power on demand. The big complaint about wind and solar power is that it fluctuates and that it is inefficient to ramp up and down gas fired generation to compensate, with electrolysis you can make hydrogen with surplus power at a rate to match demand. This would allow gas generators to run efficiently and accommodate variable green energy supply.

If you want to expand our future, build a year- round highway to Ft. Chipweyan. As Alberta's oldest European settlement and the gateway to the world's largest National park , it is a shame we have only access on a winter road or by air. Opening up the north, will provide untold options for Albertan's and access to Lake Athabasca's world class fishing. If they can build a highway to Tuktoyuktuk, we can build one to Ft. Chip.

How about making use of hydrogen as a form of energy storage. Reluctant to call it a battery but that is what it would be. Use excess power from wind and solar to convert water to hydrogen for storage.

Great future plans and alternative energy potential.

One opportunity that seems to be missing is the use of fuel cells. Specifically most people’s furnaces could be retrofitted with fuel cell furnaces that run on natural gas/hydrogen. These same fuel cell furnaces can provide electricity production. Couple this with batteries and you can remove most homes off the grid thus minimizing/eliminating the electricity transportation cost. Incorporate this with hydrogen produced from wind farms transported via existing pipelines and you have a system you can use immediately. Sky is the limit.

Though not a scientist...seeking innovative energy sources that do not harm our environment, is only right to do. My suggestion is to provide a very easy to understand video explaining how Hydrogen can be produced here, how it works as an energy source and the types (specifically) of jobs that will be created by such an endeavour and the programs to train people to do those jobs. Thank you!

Sorry but Elon Musk and his 46800 battery that is 36 amps high output and dense energy factor makes even Trains Semis Battery electric and alot of other vehicles now more range effective. This will make for batteries for commercial regional fan jets and transport planes to the range of 1000 miles feasible. Electric transport systems can be stored indoors and never see the outside elements. Farm tractors now have 8 hours working capacity and can be made fully autonomous in nature. Combining a field done in 5 days can be completed with older equipment in one day.. Only the tractor need be automated to control the main harvester. Solar power roof of barns and fence lines will spill into a new era of energy systems. Just a mater of seeing the once impossible and see the reality. In 1898 the first battery electric car traveled max 20 miles and was thought of a miracle. IN 2021 Teslas will have over 1287.48Km (800 mile) range at 1/8 the energy needs of any fossil fuel transport vehicle including 1/3 the energy needs of Hybrid vehicle with 950 km Range (Ford Escape) in sub compact car only, soon to be released. Hydrogen is best for heating systems (98% efficent furnaces can handle) and cooking on open flame needs. Hot water needs be it tank or tankless boilers. Grain drying needs and commercial bread bakeries/factories. Hydrogen for shipping will not happen for years to come as Container ships can burn crude oil as is with low sulfur content. Hydrogen if pipelined and or bottled can provide the far north with energy during the dark hours of winter time near and north of the arctic circle. Know where it is best to use and know that technology is there where best to use for many reasons.. Hydrogen, unlike diesel fuel, will not freeze in -60C weather and electric motors will always run including trying to start fossil fuel engines that refuse to start at that temperature. Just saying be logical not irrational is the answer and not eractionay to lost cause. Fossil fuels are not the goldilocks of the past 50 years and is not the only feasible energy source in the world.

Good initial plan, with some pragmatic approaches for how to begin moving the needle. A couple of additional ideas to note: 1 - For an easy export win, an oil-based liquid organic hydrogen carrier (see Hydrogenious for an example) could likely be batch-run through the existing Trans Mountain pipeline, with the depleted material returned by rail. 2 - A number of UofA / UofC chemistry and nanotechnology grads are leading cutting edge research and commercialization in the extremely promising field of solid state hydrogen storage. They could be lured back to Edmonton. See David Antonelli of Kubagen and Andrey Tokarev / Ping Song of Hydrogen in Motion. It’s a work-leading opportunity for Alberta and I encourage us to make solid state hydrogen storage and transport an anchor technology at the center of a UofA-led research & commercialization accelerator in the Fort Sask area.

Hydrogen is a wonderful gas. But it also has the widest explosive range of all other gasses if I remember correctly. One of the key issues with hydrogen as it doesn’t so much burn, but rather explodes. This makes it widely unsafe to be utilized in pipelines or large scale distribution networks. Means of isolating hydrogen also are quite carbon intensive. I’m trying to develop a plan for the removal of carbon from the atmosphere to be refined(with the use of hydrogen) into an ultra clean and pure crude oil. This could be utilized for the creation of jet fuel, which we will likely never get away from if we want to retain flying as a means of transportation. Other uses for the captured carbon could be creating graphene and other stable & inert carbon products that keep carbon from the atmosphere. Please reach out, I have ideas and plans, but need some others to work with

H2 pipeline transport is fraught, with high lifecycle costs. Using high molarity acids or ammonia as the vehicle are very promising, especially as H2 extraction from acids reduces the contaminants found in steam methane reforming. Sulphuric acid and phosphoric acid are ALSO challenging, but with a high potential payoff.