We discussed the IEA report yesterday at some length, but in such a comprehensive report we missed a couple of things that are probably worth noting today. See more in our ESG Report today.
The methanol lobby/advocates are trying to find their place in the world of clean energy and clean chemicals and there was an interesting conference earlier today in which the case was made for methanol in a climate-friendly World. While clean methanol would have plenty of applications in lowering the carbon footprint of many chemicals, as it is a building block from which many products can be derived, the presentation focused on methanol as a fuel cell alternative to hydrogen. As the exhibit below shows, clean methanol would start with green hydrogen as a feedstock and so by definition would be more expensive to produce than green hydrogen. This would be offset by the greater density in methanol versus hydrogen, but more important by the much lower cost of infrastructure that would be needed to make methanol available – it is a liquid and could use existing infrastructure – such as fueling stations. It all still needs renewable power that we do not yet have to spare.