Hydrogen Shot

The Hydrogen Shot™ aims to reduce the cost of clean hydrogen to $1 per kilogram within a decade (by 2031). This cost reduction could result in at least a five-fold increase in the use of hydrogen and expand existing hydrogen markets, create new markets for hydrogen, and create jobs through DOE’s investment and the resulting mobilization of private capital.

Reducing the Cost of Clean Hydrogen

One of eight of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Earthshots™, the Hydrogen Shot aims to reduce the cost of clean hydrogen to $1 per 1 kilogram within a decade.

According to DOE estimates, reducing the cost of clean hydrogen to $1 per kilogram could result in at least a five-fold increase in the use of hydrogen—and all of that hydrogen would be clean (resulting in low or zero greenhouse gas emissions).

The United States currently produces and consumes about 10 million metric tons of hydrogen per year, but most of that is produced from unabated fossil fuels. The cost reductions targeted by the Hydrogen Shot would make it possible to replace today’s hydrogen with clean hydrogen, expand those existing markets, and create new markets for hydrogen, including for iron and steel production, clean ammonia, and heavy-duty trucking, and for energy storage to help integrate renewables into our power grid. By 2050, this growth in clean hydrogen use would enable a 10% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions economy-wide—a reduction greater than the emissions from trucks, buses, aircraft, and ships in the United States today.

Achieving the Hydrogen Shot goal will also provide significant long-term support to the Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs, which are expected to create tens of thousands of jobs through DOE’s investment and the resulting mobilization of private capital.

Hydrogen storage tanks

Why Clean Hydrogen Matters

Hydrogen can be produced by several methods. “Clean” hydrogen, which results in low or zero emissions, can be produced from renewable energy resources (such as solar or wind) as well as from nuclear power or fossil energy resources (with carbon capture).

Clean hydrogen is a game changer for many sectors of the economy—as a fuel, as an energy storage medium, and as an essential input for many important chemical processes. It will decarbonize high-polluting industries, create well-paying jobs, and help us realize a net-zero economy by 2050.

Branding for the hydrogen shot.

Potential Impact

While some industries are beginning to use clean hydrogen to reduce emissions, several challenges must be overcome to realize its full potential for addressing climate change, improving energy security, and strengthening our domestic economy and economic competitiveness. 

One of these challenges is cost. Currently, the cost of hydrogen from renewable energy is about $5 per kilogram. By marshalling efforts from leading researchers around the country to dramatically reduce clean hydrogen costs the Hydrogen Shot will:

  • Facilitate technical innovation in clean hydrogen production 
  • Increase demand for clean hydrogen
  • Unlock new markets for hydrogen, including steel manufacturing, clean ammonia, energy storage, and heavy-duty trucks
  • Create more clean energy jobs
  • Ensure environmental protection and benefits for local communities
  • Help America tackle the climate crisis
  • Strengthen America’s position in global clean hydrogen markets.

Highlights

Rendering of a clean hydrogen production and energy storage system

Earthshots Initiative

The climate crisis calls for a different kind of moonshot. Energy Earthshots™ will accelerate breakthroughs of more abundant, affordable, and reliable clean energy solutions within the decade.  They will drive the major innovation breakthroughs that we know we must achieve to solve the climate crisis, reach our 2050 net-zero carbon goals, and create the jobs of the new clean energy economy. The Energy Earthshots target the remaining solution points of the most challenging technical problems across our energy economy.

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