Using renewable electricity to produce green hydrogen would divert green electrons away from powering our homes or electric cars, writes Geert De Cock.
Needless to say, this is not prudent financial management, as the person will have to keep stealing or borrowing money to pay off an ever-increasing number of debts.
The end result will be close to zero-carbon, renewable hydrogen, but also dirtier grid electricity.
Drawing the lessons learnt from the biofuels debacle, we urge policy-makers to choose quality over quantity: The carbon footprint of crop-based biofuels looked good, as long as we ignored the emissions of burning down rainforests to expand palm oil and soy plantations.
Hydrogen and efuels are an essential tool to decarbonise long-distance transport, supplying planes with green e-kerosene and ships with green e-ammonia.
Today, the renewable hydrogen industry is non-existent but it will need to be scaled up in the next decade.