NS Future Centres on Science Fiction
Green hydrogen, once the subject of science fiction, may make Nova Scotia a key energy supplier to the world.
Made by passing electricity through water, H2O, the process separates the hydrogen from the oxygen. We will breath the latter, but the hydrogen becomes a very useful, clean fuel for all kinds of uses, including industrial applications, air and marine transportation fuel, and other demanding fuel consumers.
The key is to find inexpensive electricity to do the heavy lifting in the separation process.
Scientists across the world think wind power may be that source, and Nova Scotia’s consistent off-shore winds may be the world’s most consistent supplier.
The minister of natural resources and renewables says the province is at the forefront of that potential. Tory Rushton says scientists and researchers from across the globe are looking to Nova Scotia as the most likely place to capitalise on its potential.
Speaking on Morning Talk — on Six Rivers Radio this morning — Rushton says estimates of the potential are in the trillions of dollars. He noted, “It is in the very early stages, but Nova Scotia is clearly the location of choice.”
To be precise, the location of choice is in the province’s offshore waters. Industrial sized wind turbines would need to be anchored on the ocean floor, a design and construction challenge given the intensity of wind and tidal action.
The challenge is not for Nova Scotia to solve alone. Industrial interests have also identified the potential for the province and teams are working on the challenge.
Rushton said he was in a meeting yesterday with a researcher who is returning home from the west to take part in that potential.
Once separated, the hydrogen could used within the province to fire all kinds of energy projects that previously used coal or low grade petroleum, both dirty fuels that have contributed so much to the climate change crisis.
More than that, hydrogen can be transported around the globe in the same way that super tankers now deliver petroleum products from the Middle East to thirsty customers in cold or industrialised nations. In fact, the market potential would dwarf the output of those oil producing nations.
Premier Tim Houston recently noted that one project currently being discussed is valued at sixty trillion dollars — yes, that’s with a “T.”
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