Some inconvenient truths about decarbonization, the hydrogen economy, and power-to-X technologies

The decarbonization of the energy sector has been a subject of research and of political discussions for several decades, gaining significant attention in the last years. It is commonly acknowledged that the most obvious way to achieve decarbonization is the use of renewable energy sources. Within the context of the energy sector decarbonization, many mainly industrialized countries recently started developing national plans to establish a hydrogen-based economy in the very near future. The plans for green hydrogen initially try to (a) target sectors that are difficult to decarbonize and (b) address issues related to the storage and transportation of CO