Environmental and health impact assessment of scenarios for renewable energy systems with hydrogen (HYSCENE)

The aim of the HYSCENE project is to improve our understanding of the environmental impacts and related socio-cultural and welfare economic impacts of a renewable energy system where hydrogen is an important element. The project will define two scenarios for hydrogen demands for electricity production, space heating, and for the transport sector - a reference scenario and a scenario with substantial use of hydrogen for the time period 2005-2050. The emissions of air pollutants and the leakage of hydrogen for the different energy systems will be assessed. Linkages between scenario models, emission models and air quality models will be developed. The impacts on atmospheric chemistry as a result of more hydrogen in the atmosphere will be analysed, and the results will be used in already existing regional air pollution models. The environmental impacts will be estimated with focus on air quality, human exposure and public health. The replacement of fossil fuel based technology with hydrogen based technology will have important societal impacts, some of which will be analysed. The project will contribute to welfare economic analysis by pricing the expected change in the risk of death (an important external benefit)