Clean energy superstar or smokescreen for fossil fuel use? Here’s what you need to know about hydrogen.

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While hydrogen is one way to store and transport renewable energy, Thomas Longden, an environmental economist at Australian National University who has researched hydrogen emissions, said that efficiency improvements and electrification should be a higher priority than switching to hydrogen.

“If you can use electricity, there’s less energy loss,” said Longden, also emphasizing that hydrogen should be reserved “for those difficult to abate applications.” As Wolak put it, “you need hydrogen to decarbonize sectors that electricity cannot reach.”