Editor’s Note:

My citation Friday of a New York Times article casting cold water on Ukraine’s hopes for hydrogen drew several emails of protest from readers. Richard Deitz, an American wind power developer in Ukraine, writes: “The Cornell paper (and NYT article) referred to “blue” hydrogen, which is H2 produced with electricity coming natural gas. It is hardly news at all—burning fossil fuels to create H2 is not at all green…This has nothing to do with green hydrogen, where there is no carbon emission.” Fredrik Svinhufvud, co-founder of Vindkraft Ukraina, a wind farm developer, writes: “The main issue with Green Hydrogen so far is that is too expensive compared to other alternatives but the aim is to get on par or cheaper within a decade by reducing the cost of renewable energy.” Paul Thomas, an American academic in Kyiv, writes: “The huge opportunity for Ukraine is in the production and export of ‘green’ hydrogen that relies entirely on renewable energy as the power source and that utilizes the existing pipeline network (with upgrades).” With best regards, Jim Brooke