Hydrogen Reality Check: Distilling Green Hydrogen’s Water Consumption

The report argues that scaling green hydrogen for a 1.5°C-aligned future will not severely impact global freshwater supplies, as its water consumption is comparable to or lower than fossil-fuel-based hydrogen and other energy production methods. It estimates that meeting 2050 hydrogen demand targets would require only 0.33% of current global freshwater. To mitigate local water stress, the document recommends using non-freshwater sources like desalinated seawater or treated wastewater, intentional project siting, and revising water pricing structures to incentivize efficiency.

• Green hydrogen production consumes between 20 and 30 liters of water per kilogram of hydrogen, which is on par with or less than the 20 to 40 liters per kilogram required for fossil-based hydrogen pathways.
• Compared to other large-scale energy processes, green hydrogen production uses less than half the water required for typical nuclear or coal electricity production to produce the same amount of energy.
• Projected hydrogen demand for 2050 would have a minimal impact on global and US water supplies: the Hydrogen Council's forecast of 660 million metric tons would require 13.2 billion cubic meters of water, or 0.33% of current global freshwater, while the DOE National Clean Hydrogen Roadmap's target of 50 million metric tons would use 0.26% of current US water usage.
• The Advanced Clean Energy Storage (ACES) project in Utah, which uses 220 megawatts of electrolyzers to produce 100 tons of clean hydrogen per day, would require 730,000 cubic meters of water annually, representing 0.012% of Utah's current yearly water usage.
• Non-freshwater sources such as seawater, municipal wastewater, and industrial wastewater can be purified to the required 99.9% purity levels using commercially mature technologies, adding approximately $0.10/kg to the levelized cost of hydrogen and using 1% of the electricity needed for electrolysis.

APA

RMI (2023). Hydrogen Reality Check: Distilling Green Hydrogen’s Water Consumption. https://rmi.org/resources/hydrogen-reality-check-distilling-green-hydrogens-water-consumption/

Chicago

RMI. Hydrogen Reality Check: Distilling Green Hydrogen’s Water Consumption. 2023. https://rmi.org/resources/hydrogen-reality-check-distilling-green-hydrogens-water-consumption/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Hydrogen Reality Check: Distilling Green Hydrogen’s Water Consumption |date=2 August 2023 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/hydrogen-reality-check-distilling-green-hydrogens-water-consumption/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2023hydrogen, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Hydrogen Reality Check: Distilling Green Hydrogen’s Water Consumption}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2023}, month = aug, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/hydrogen-reality-check-distilling-green-hydrogens-water-consumption/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }