Biden administration doles out $7 billion for hydrogen hubs
Joe Biden visits the Cummins Power Generation Facility in Fridley, Minnesota, on Monday, April 3rd, 2023. Last year, Cummins announced Fridley would be the site of its first electrolyzer manufacturing facility in the US. | Photo by Elizabeth Flores / Star Tribune via Getty Images
The Biden administration will funnel $7 billion into seven different “hubs” for hydrogen production across the US. It’s part of President Joe Biden’s plan to transition the nation to clean energy, even though the environmental benefits of hydrogen still hinge on overhauling the way the fuel is traditionally made.
Hydrogen combustion creates water vapor, unlike fossil fuels that release greenhouse gas emissions when burned. That’s seen as especially valuable for cleaning up aviation, maritime shipping, and heavy industries like steel that are more difficult to run on renewable energy and batteries. The tricky part with hydrogen is cleaning up pollution from the process of making it. Most hydrogen today is made using fossil fuels, and a…