The article “Hydrogen: Hype, Hope or Slow Burner?”, published in March 2025 for the World Hydrogen Technologies Convention, explores hydrogen’s real role in the energy transition—between bold promises, technical limits, and the reality of gradual adoption.
In recent years, hydrogen has risen to stardom in the global conversation around climate action, energy security, and technological innovation. Marketed as a clean, versatile energy carrier, hydrogen is at the heart of strategies in Europe, Asia, and beyond. But is this molecule truly the linchpin of the energy transition — or are we witnessing a case of collective over-enthusiasm?
A new expert report released in March 2025, titled “Hydrogen: Hype, Hope or Slow Burner?”, takes a step back from the noise and asks the hard questions: Is hydrogen overhyped? Does it offer realistic hope? Or is it simply evolving too slowly to matter in time? Drawing on engineering realities, political trends, and economic reasoning, the paper provides a much-needed reality check — without dismissing hydrogen’s potential.
⚠️ The Hype: Big Promises, Bigger Questions
Much of the recent narrative around hydrogen has verged on the utopian. The idea is simple: produce hydrogen from renewable energy (green hydrogen), use it to replace fossil fuels in everything from cars to steelmaking, and solve decarbonisation all in one go.
But the report tempers this optimism with a sober assessment of the technological and logistical hurdles. Key concerns include:
- 🔋 Low energy efficiency: Up to 50% of the energy used to produce, compress, transport, and convert hydrogen is lost — especially in “power-to-power” use cases.
- 🧱 Lack of infrastructure: Hydrogen pipelines, storage facilities, and conversion systems are expensive and underdeveloped.
- 🌪️ Greenwashing risks: Blue hydrogen (from fossil fuels with carbon capture) is often marketed as clean but may lock in carbon-intensive pathways.
- 💸 Economics don’t add up: Without significant subsidies, most hydrogen projects today are uncompetitive with direct electrification.
As the authors point out, hydrogen is not a primary energy source but an energy carrier — and a relatively inefficient one, especially when used to store electricity that could otherwise power a grid directly.
🌱 The Hope: Strategic Potential in the Right Places
Despite these drawbacks, hydrogen may yet prove essential in the long run — particularly for decarbonising sectors that resist electrification. The report highlights key areas where hydrogen has genuine potential:
- ⚙️ Heavy industry: Steel production, cement, and chemical sectors require high-temperature processes not easily electrified.
- đźš› Long-distance transport: Aviation, shipping, and freight may benefit from hydrogen or its derivatives (ammonia, e-fuels).
- 🔋 Renewable energy storage: Hydrogen can balance intermittent solar and wind by storing excess electricity seasonally.
- 🏗️ Energy system resilience: By diversifying energy vectors, hydrogen can help reduce reliance on fossil imports and improve autonomy.
More than 30 countries now have national hydrogen strategies, and the EU has designated hydrogen as a strategic energy technology through the REPowerEU plan.
🔥 The Slow Burner: A Measured, Long-Term Approach
Rather than a fast-moving revolution, the report characterizes hydrogen as a “slow burner” — a technology that will evolve over decades, not years.
Hydrogen is unlikely to disrupt the global energy system overnight. Instead, its deployment will be gradual, beginning in niche applications and expanding as costs fall, infrastructure matures, and integration improves. Several key points underpin this long-term view:
- 📉 Costs are still high, especially for electrolysis-based green hydrogen.
- 🔬 Innovation is ongoing but not yet breakthrough.
- 🏗️ Policy frameworks are fragmented, often relying on pilot projects without clear market signals.
- 🗳️ Public acceptance is mixed, with opposition to local hydrogen trials observed in the UK.
This slow uptake is not necessarily a weakness. As the report argues, a realistic, targeted deployment of hydrogen — supported by thoughtful planning and systems thinking — may deliver better outcomes than all-or-nothing hype.
🧠The Bigger Picture: More Than a Molecule
One of the report’s strongest contributions is its critique of the techno-solutionist mindset. It warns against believing that we can simply “green” the current system without deeper changes in economic models, consumption patterns, and societal priorities.
The authors call for a rethinking of economics itself, advocating for ecological and post-growth frameworks that place technological tools like hydrogen within a broader transition. In this view, hydrogen is not a silver bullet — but one of many tools we can mobilize if we adopt the right values and governance.
🚀 So, What’s the Verdict?
Is hydrogen hype, hope, or a slow burner?
The honest answer is: a bit of all three.
Hydrogen has clearly been overhyped in some sectors — and prematurely pushed as a universal solution. But it is also one of the few viable paths to deep decarbonisation in sectors where electrification falls short. Its full potential will only be unlocked through patient, well-governed investment, international collaboration, and honest dialogue between science, policy, and citizens.
Whether Europe — and countries like France and Ireland — can seize this opportunity will depend on strategic clarity, public engagement, and leadership that goes beyond expert consensus.
As the report concludes: while experts manage the present, it is up to leaders to shape the future.
đź’¬ Final Thought
Hydrogen will not single-handedly save the planet — but it may help us build the scaffolding of a cleaner, more resilient energy system. What matters now is not hype, but how wisely we deploy it.
Let’s move beyond the slogans — and start asking smarter questions.
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