"Oh, Susanna, don't you cry for me,
I'm bound for the Lone Prairie with my pocket full of gold."
— Merrie Melodies (1942)
Have you ever wondered what the name of the San Francisco 49ers means? In 1848, a gold rush began in Northern California. Fortune seekers from the eastern and central United States started migrating to the state in search of instant wealth with relatively modest capital. Migration peaked in 1849, and those fortune seekers who arrived between 1848 and 1855 became known as the “forty-niners,” or simply the “49ers.”
A similar phenomenon occurred during the oil rush, the pursuit of “black gold,” in Pennsylvania between 1859 and 1880. Just as wild as the gold rush, the oil rush attracted countless fortune seekers, though only a few ultimately became truly wealthy. It was a gamble, but one with a relatively low cost of entry if fortune happened to smile upon you.
As a result, oil became the world’s primary energy source throughout much of the twentieth century. It powers national and international transportation systems, but it is also used to generate electricity and heat. However, recent efforts point toward a gradual reduction in oil use over the medium term and a transition toward hydrogen. This raises an important question: are we living through the hydrogen rush?
Transitions toward new forms of fuel are nothing new in the history of energy. In lighting, we moved from whale oil to kerosene and eventually to the electric light bulb. In electricity generation, we transitioned from small hydroelectric facilities to large coal-fired power plants, then to natural gas plants, and more recently to the rapid growth of renewable energy. In transportation, we progressed from animal-powered mobility to steam locomotives and eventually to petroleum-derived fuels such as gasoline, diesel, and fuel oil.
Hydrogen has become what nuclear energy once represented: a world of possibilities capable of transforming and unifying energy production and consumption over the long term. It offers potential not only for the generation of electricity and heat through hydrogen-powered plants, whose only byproduct is water, but also for energy storage and as a principal substitute fuel for passenger vehicles, freight transportation, light and heavy rail systems, and a variety of other high-value industrial applications.
Research centers in developed countries, a modern version of fortune seekers, are investing heavily in hydrogen-based technologies to solve many of the challenges associated with the energy transition. Just as the early gold and oil prospectors tested their luck and some ultimately generated wealth and regional development, the same may occur with the countries that are taking the first steps in the hydrogen rush.
Mexico possesses significant potential to develop an industry based on hydrogen applications. The challenge is simply to look toward the future rather than cling to the past and its former glories. Otherwise, we may find ourselves purchasing technologies developed elsewhere, much like the fortune seekers who arrived too late to the gold rush and ended up enriching the merchants selling shovels and pickaxes.
This article was originally published by Business Insider México.
Date: June 17, 2020
Original Link: https://businessinsider.mx/la-fiebre-del-hidrogeno-energia-circular-paul-alejandro-sanchez-opinion/ [offline]
Archived Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20240725122203/https://businessinsider.mx/la-fiebre-del-hidrogeno-energia-circular-paul-alejandro-sanchez-opinion/ [Archived]