Hydrogen, the lightest and most abundant element in the universe, can be used on planet Earth as a storehouse for renewable energy. This will make our economy clean, circular and sector-integrated through the deployment of hydrogen technologies. If in the beginning of the twenty-first century this was still a strategic goal, now it is already a realistic opportunity with the main advantage to ensure large scale decarbonization, which we need to save our planet.

Hydrogen can be obtained by electrolysis, i.e. by splitting water to hydrogen and oxygen using renewable energy and to regenerate electricity through fuel cells when and where needed – in industry, household, transport. The waste product from this conversion is again water, i.e. the energy cycle is circular: “from water to water”, as it is in the natural water cycle. But hydrogen is also a valuable raw material for a number of industries – steel production, ammonia, refineries.

Replacing hydrogen production from natural gas with electrolysis will automatically bring to a significant decarbonization of the economy. The analysis of hydrogen application zones shows that, like fossil fuels (coal, oil), hydrogen is a universal energy carrier and raw material and can be the backbone of the hydrogen economy, providing it with full sector integration.