⚡ This small island chain in Scotland may revolutionize how we produce hydrogen.

⚡ This small island chain in Scotland may revolutionize how we produce hydrogen.

Some islands in Northern Scotland have too much clean energy. So now they are producing hydrogen power.

Rich Spuller
Rich Spuller

Share this story!

In an energy-hungry world, it is hard to imagine anyone having too much clean energy, but such is the case for Orkney, a group of islands off the northern coast of Scotland. The islands have so much wind power that wind turbines need to be switched off on a daily basis.

The islands decided to put that extra energy to good use and started producing hydrogen power, reported CNN Business. 2017 saw a world first when the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) used tidal energy to split water and make hydrogen.

This process is called electrolysis, and it has become quite common on Orkney. A collaboration between EMEC, Community Energy Scotland, and others is using excess wind energy for electrolysis, while Surf 'n' Turf, a project by the Scottish government, is combining excess electricity from tidal and wind turbines for the same process.

Hydrogen emits no carbon and can also be stored. As such, it provides an important clean alternative to natural gas and can be a key to the world's transition to cleaner energy.

However, traditionally the creation of hydrogen has been powered by fossil fuels releasing many harmful emissions in the process. The International Energy Agency estimates that hydrogen creation results in 830 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year, the equivalent of the CO2 emissions of the United Kingdom and Indonesia combined.

Luckily, Orkney is proving there is a new way to produce hydrogen, and while it's still very expensive, it could one day be done at scale.

For now, Orkney is using the gas to power vehicles and hopes one day to power a seagoing vessel. It will also be used to heat a primary school.

This story first appeared in Interesting Engineering

Support Warp News

Warp News focuses only on fact-based optimistic news and is read by tens of thousands of people in 150 countries! It is evident that people have grown tired of the negativity and want to have a more positive impact on the future.

Warp is all made possible by you, the Warp Community, and as the community grows, so does our impact.  We hope to be able to surface the best ideas and inspire people to make a difference.  Together, we can Make the Future Come Sooner and it all starts today.  We would be honored to have you join us in the next chapter of Warp News.

We would like to invite you to become a founding supporter of Warp News by signing up to become a WIP (Warp Important Person).

⚡️ Energy

You might also like

WALL-Y 2 min read

⚡ 550% increase in data centers led to only 6% higher electricity consumption

More efficient computer chips have reduced energy intensity by 99 percent since 2008. IEA predicts that data centers will account for only 3 percent of increased electricity consumption by 2030.

Mathias Sundin 3 min read

🌏 The best things happening to humanity right now

It is easy to think of bad things happening right now, but what are the best ones? The list can be made very long, but here are my favorites.

WALL-Y 1 min read

🔋 The U.S. has installed batteries equivalent to 20 nuclear power plants in four years

The US has installed batteries with a capacity of over 20 gigawatts to the power grid, of which 5 gigawatts were added during the first seven months of this year. The batteries have already proven effective in preventing power outages in states like California during intense heat waves.