Super Sustainability through Hydrogen Cities – An Overview

The concept of hydrogen cities is an old dream of achieving super sustainable integrated energy systems. Practically, it starts with the Danish dream H2Pia which is a complete urban community based on variable renewable energy, and hydrogen technologies as the sources of energy for various types and classes of loads. These loads include electrical and thermal loads. The H2Pia concept is then extended worldwide due to its super-sustainable performance. Examples include the first future Chinese hydrogen city, and the French ‘Energy Observer’ which is 100% clean energy floating boat city. This paper presents a brief overview the main drivers toward the hydrogen cities, the main associated technologies, and the related challenges. The overview shows that reliance on standalone 100% hydrogen-based renewable and sustainable energy systems can be achieved with the currently available technologies. In addition, more R&D are required for achieving acceptable economical, and technical performances.