Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Technology Analysis
The role of analysis in NREL's hydrogen and fuel cell research is to ensure that federal R&D investments in hydrogen production, storage, distribution, and end-use technologies will provide the maximum value added to the national strategic goal of transitioning to a hydrogen economy. Integrated system analyses, technoeconomic analyses, life cycle assessments (LCAs), vehicle system analysis, and hybrid power systems analysis are essential to our research and development efforts. They provide an understanding of the economic, technical, and even global impacts of renewable technologies. These analyses also provide direction, focus, and support to the development and commercialization of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies.
Technoeconomic Analysis
Technoeconomic analyses (TEAs) are performed to determine the potential economic viability of a research process. Evaluating the costs of a given process compared to the current technology can assess the economic feasibility of a project. These analyses can be useful in determining which emerging technologies have the highest potential for near-, mid-, and long-term success. The results of a TEA are also useful in directing research toward areas in which improvements will result in the greatest cost reductions. As the economics of a process are evaluated throughout the life of the project, advancement toward the final goal of commercialization can be measured.
Life-Cycle Assessment
Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is an analytic method for identifying, evaluating, and minimizing the environmental impacts of emissions and resource depletion associated with a specific process. When such an assessment is performed in conjunction with a technoeconomic feasibility study, the total economic and environmental benefits and drawbacks of a process can be quantified. Material and energy balances are used to quantify the emissions, resource depletion, and energy consumption of all processes, including raw material extraction, processing, and final disposal of products and by-products, required to make the process of interest operate. The results of this inventory are then used to evaluate the environmental impacts of the process so efforts can focus on mitigation. To date, LCA studies have been conducted on the natural gas-to-hydrogen production process and the wind/electrolysis hydrogen production system.
Learn more about our Hydrogen and Fuel Cells capabilities and current projects in this area.
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Key staff analysts
Nate Blair
Walter Short
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