The Energy Transition and the Advent of the Hydrogen Economy

Climate change according to almost all experts is a consolidated reality; the responsibility for these changes in the terrestrial ecosystem is largely attributable to man and in particular to activities related to the use of fossil fuels and deforestation. In order to deal with these emergencies, in the near future a new sustainable energy paradigm should be established, fully implementing the decarbonization process and based on distributed micro-generation from renewable energy sources (RES), smart grids, energy storage and hydrogen. Energy production from RES, characterized by variable temporal availability, unpredictable over time, can efficiently meet the needs if coupled with storage systems (mechanical, electrical, chemical, thermal, biological, etc.): it follows that thanks to its energy performance and its environmental sustainability, the interest in hydrogen as energy carrier (it is clean, versatile and has high combustion efficiency) is growing today. The paper illustrates the characteristics and properties of hydrogen, together with its production and storage techniques and its uses, highlighting how, thanks to its environmental sustainability, it could play the role of energy carrier of the future in the new decarbonized energy paradigm.