Hydrogen Energy in a Sustainable Future

Phantom or Panacea?

Authors

Mark Glucina, Kozo Mayumi

• ISBN: 9781032421476
• Published: January 22, 2026
• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Publisher: CRC Press

Description

Hydrogen — the first element, clean burning and packed with energy — has long been hailed as the fuel of the future. But is it truly the breakthrough technology needed for decarbonisation, or an expensive diversion? In Hydrogen Energy in a Sustainable Future: Phantom or Panacea?, Mark Glucina and Kozo Mayumi cut through the hype with a clear, rigorous analysis of the science, economics, logistics, and politics of hydrogen. Drawing on decades of research, the book explains where hydrogen may genuinely deliver value, where it may fall short, and what role it can realistically play in the global energy transition.

Key Features

Critically examines hydrogen as a decarbonisation tool rather than treating it as a universal solution.

Explains the science, production methods, transport challenges, and economics of hydrogen.

Assesses hydrogen use across industry, power, heat, transport, and international markets.

Discusses hydrogen derivatives such as ammonia and electrofuels.

Provides a global perspective on policy, regulation, buyers, sellers, and national strategies.

Written in an accessible style that makes complex technical and economic issues clear.

Coverage

The book covers the fundamentals of hydrogen, including its history, physical nature, feedstock and fuel roles, production pathways, hydrogen colour classifications, fossil-fuelled hydrogen, hydrogen from water, production cost comparisons, storage and transport issues, hydrogen derivatives, industrial applications, heat and power uses, transport applications, scale-up challenges, public policy, regulation, and international hydrogen strategies in Europe, Japan, Korea, the United States, China, the United Kingdom, and India.

About the Authors

Mark Glucina holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Auckland and has held research, teaching, and consultancy roles in New Zealand and Japan. With a focus on sustainable process engineering, decarbonisation, and the energy transition, he is known for making complex technical ideas clear and compelling for diverse audiences.

Kozo Mayumi holds a PhD from Kyoto University. He has worked in the fields of energy analysis, ecological economics, complex hierarchy theory, and alternative money theory. In 2013, he became the first recipient of the Georgescu-Roegen Award (Unconventional Thinking Category) at the 13th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit. He is currently a professor at the Kyoto College of Graduate Studies for Informatics, following his retirement from Tokushima University in March 2020.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgements

Discovery: Understanding Hydrogen’s Promise – and Its Problems

The Essential Hydrogen

A Brief History

The Nature of Hydrogen

Well or Pail?

Feedstock or Fuel?

Making Hydrogen

The Hydrogen Colour Wheel

Fossil-Fuelled Hydrogen

Carbon Capture Blues

Hydrogen from Water

Production Cost Comparison

Transporting Hydrogen

The Volume Problem

The Options

Hydrogen Smuggling on the High Seas

Hydrogen Derivatives

The Ammonia Alternative

Electrofuel

HEFA

Deployment: Where Hydrogen Fits (and Where It Slips)

Hydrogen for Industry

Grey to Green

Industrial Process Heat

Steel

Hydrogen for Heat and Power

Domestic Heat

Storing Sun and Wind

Power from Ammonia

Hydrogen in Transport

Hydrogen on the Move

Automotive

Rail

Aviation

Shipping

The Scale Challenge

Triage

The Big Buildout

Direction: Ambitions and Actions from Around the World

Making the Rules

The Buyers

Team Europe

Japan and the Republic of Korea

A Costly Strategy?

The Sellers

High-Income Nations

Low and Middle-Income Nations

Do It Yourself

The United States

China

The United Kingdom

India

Phantom or Panacea?

References

Index

Endorsements

Why buy this book?

This book is a sharp and timely resource for professionals trying to separate hydrogen opportunity from hydrogen mythology. It is especially valuable for readers working in energy policy, engineering, sustainability, environmental economics, and industrial decarbonisation. Rather than selling a miracle, it offers a sober, intelligent framework for understanding where hydrogen fits in the real world. In a market full of noise, that alone is worth money.

Q1: Is hydrogen really a viable solution for decarbonisation, or is it just hype?

This is precisely the question that Hydrogen Energy in a Sustainable Future: Phantom or Panacea? (CRC Press, 2026) sets out to answer — and it does so without the boosterism that characterises much of the popular literature on the subject. Written by Mark Glucina, a chemical and materials engineer with research and consultancy experience in New Zealand and Japan, and Kozo Mayumi, an ecological economist trained under Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen at Vanderbilt University, the book applies decades of energy research to cut through the political and commercial noise around hydrogen. It identifies where hydrogen can genuinely deliver decarbonisation value — and where it cannot — making it essential reading for anyone who needs to form a grounded, evidence-based view of the hydrogen economy.

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Q2: Where does hydrogen actually make sense as an energy carrier, and where does it not?

Hydrogen is highly versatile but also highly inefficient when used as a direct substitute for electricity. The energy losses involved in producing, compressing, transporting, and converting hydrogen back to usable energy mean that in many applications — particularly passenger transport and building heating — electrification is substantially more efficient. Hydrogen makes more economic and thermodynamic sense in applications where electrification is genuinely difficult: green steel production, long-haul shipping, ammonia synthesis, and certain industrial heat processes. Hydrogen Energy in a Sustainable Future provides a sector-by-sector assessment grounded in thermodynamic and economic analysis, helping engineers, policymakers, and investors distinguish high-value hydrogen applications from low-value ones.

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Q3: What is the difference between green, blue, grey, and pink hydrogen — and does the colour really matter?

The hydrogen colour taxonomy has become central to policy debates, but the distinctions matter less than the lifecycle emissions and economics behind each pathway. Grey hydrogen (from natural gas without carbon capture) accounts for the vast majority of current production and carries substantial emissions. Blue hydrogen adds carbon capture but faces persistent questions about methane leakage rates and capture efficiency. Green hydrogen — produced by electrolysis using renewable electricity — is the only genuinely zero-emissions pathway at scale, but remains expensive and constrained by renewable electricity availability. Pink hydrogen (nuclear-powered electrolysis) is gaining traction in energy-secure countries with existing nuclear infrastructure. Hydrogen Energy in a Sustainable Future examines these pathways with economic and environmental rigour, including the conditions under which each becomes competitive.

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Q4: What are the main technical and infrastructure challenges to scaling hydrogen as an energy source?

Hydrogen's physical properties create significant engineering challenges that are often underestimated in policy discussions. As the smallest molecule, it is prone to embrittlement of metal pipelines and storage vessels, requires either extreme compression (700 bar for vehicle applications) or cryogenic liquefaction (-253°C), and has a low volumetric energy density that makes transport and storage expensive relative to fossil fuels. Building a hydrogen infrastructure at the scale envisioned in national hydrogen strategies requires massive capital investment in production, distribution, refuelling, and end-use equipment — often in parallel, which creates a classic chicken-and-egg problem. The book analyses these infrastructure realities as economic constraints on the speed and scale of hydrogen deployment, providing a more grounded timeline than most official roadmaps.

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Q5: How do the economics of hydrogen compare to those of battery storage and direct electrification?

For most stationary and mobile energy applications, direct electrification via battery storage is currently more efficient and cheaper than the hydrogen pathway. The round-trip efficiency of green hydrogen (electrolysis → compression/storage → fuel cell) is roughly 25–35%, compared to 85–95% for battery storage. This efficiency gap translates directly into cost — green hydrogen requires roughly three times the renewable electricity input to deliver the same usable energy as direct grid supply. However, for long-duration storage, seasonal energy balancing, and hard-to-electrify industrial processes, hydrogen remains competitive with or superior to battery alternatives. Hydrogen Energy in a Sustainable Future places these trade-offs in explicit economic and thermodynamic terms, grounded in the authors' background in energy analysis and ecological economics.

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Q6: What role does New Zealand's experience play in the global hydrogen debate?

New Zealand presents a particularly instructive case study in the hydrogen debate. Its abundant renewable electricity from hydro and geothermal sources, geographic isolation, and agricultural economy create both opportunities and constraints for hydrogen development that differ markedly from larger continental economies. Lead author Mark Glucina brings direct experience from New Zealand's energy research and consultancy sector, giving the book a perspective on small, renewable-rich economies that is largely absent from European and American hydrogen literature — and increasingly relevant as countries like Chile, Australia, and New Zealand position themselves as potential green hydrogen exporters.

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Q7: Where can I buy Hydrogen Energy in a Sustainable Future?

The book is available at CLNZ Books — clnzbooks.com/products/hydrogen-energy-future — for USD $349, with free worldwide shipping included in the price, delivered via DHL, UPS, FedEx, or NZ Post. Published by CRC Press in January 2026, it is a first-edition hardback of 212 pages.

Keywords

hydrogen energy, sustainable future, decarbonisation, clean energy, renewable energy, hydrogen production, hydrogen transport, ammonia fuel, electrofuels, ecological economics, energy transition, industrial decarbonisation

Target Audience

energy professionals, sustainability specialists, chemical engineers, environmental economists, policy makers, researchers, academics, postgraduate students, clean technology professionals, industrial decarbonisation specialists

Genre

Energy, Sustainability, Environmental Economics, Chemical Engineering, Clean Technology

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