I'm aware that hydrogen is useful for lots of industrial processes, but the line that is being sold for building up hydrogen capacity at a large scale is that there will be high demand for it to be used as a fuel. Besides, the same issues persist whether it's being used industrially or as a fuel, does Canada even have the domestic demand to justify a huge scale up of hydrogen production?
You are correct that I am not very knowledgeable about the hydrogen industry, which is in part why I am skeptical. My experience is limited to geology and I know that a lot of domestic hydrogen production occurs at oil and gas drilling sites, so I have been suspicious of the push for hydrogen being another greenwashing gambit by O&G companies to get more money from government to drill for more oil and gas.
I am not trying to discourage development of an industry but I don't think I'm asking unreasonable questions. If government is going to be investing a shit ton of money into this, we should be sure that it's a good investment.
Okay so let me be clear as to what my concerns are.
Hydrogen production, whether to be used as a fuel source or as a chemical reagent, is not problematic in isolation. However, even in this document you've linked hydrogen is being pitched largely as a green fuel source to in part replace fossil fuels in thr future. Much of the current hydrogen capacity and advance developments for hydrogen production come as a byproduct of oil and gas wells. That type of hydrogen is only considered "low carbon" because of current and potentiao future capabilities of carbon sequestration by oil and gas companies. The issues i have with carbon sequestration are a whole other story but let's just say I am also doubtful of its feasibility.
If other countries are buying our hydrogen, it's because it's cheaper than what they could potentially produce locally. If we stopped production of geological hydrogen for the purposes of reducing emissions, would it still be cheaper for other nations to import our hydrogen vs developing their own domestic production facilities? If we don't ramp down fossil fuel production, then hydrogen isn't really solving any problems and I would rather we invest money into actually decarbonizing the economy.
It just seems like to me hydrogen can either be a way to decarbonize the economy OR a way to boost economic development in canada, but I am skeptical that it can do both effectively.