Hydrogen Use in an Urban District: Environmental Impacts in a Possible Scenario Based on Coal

Hydrogen technology is becoming ever more relevant because hydrogen use can help containing greenhouse gas emission if CO₂ capture and storage techniques are implemented in the hydrogen production technology (when hydrogen is produced from fossil fuels). For this reason this work aims at carrying out a comparative analysis of possible energy scenarios in urban districts: a medium-small Italian city is taken into consideration, and its energy consumptions, both for domestic and industrial use, are evaluated. The current situation, in which conventional technologies meet the energy needs, is compared to a hypothetical scenario where clean energy vectors, namely hydrogen and electricity, are utilized together with traditional primary energy supply. Hydrogen production by means of coal decarbonization is investigated, as well as hydrogen use in advanced energy systems for transport and for electric and thermal energy generation.