世界已准备好迎接可再生天然气革命

可再生天然气的未来看起来越来越有希望，世界各地的能源公司已经在谈论为消费者提供碳中和天然气的想法  

为了确保可再生天然气的必要数量和基础设施，将需要大量投资，这意味着可再生天然气在数年内不太可能实现商业可行性  

“可再生天然气”通常指的是绿色氢气和生物甲烷，这两种截然不同的气体如今有大量试点项目正在运行，并有重大投资机会 

据美国油价网7月20日报道，澳大利亚7月份发布的一则广告广泛宣传“可再生天然气”的未来，旨在开始提高公众对新的绿色能源项目的认识，这些项目最终可能会改变人类的家庭能源使用。汽车制造商和许多能源巨头已经把目光投向了绿色氢气，但公众很少意识到从天然气转向氢气和其他替代能源的潜在转变。虽然要普及这些能源可能还有很长的路要走，但随着能源供应商希望消费者欢迎新能源进入他们的家庭，营销活动现在就已开始。 

最近的一则广告说，“比你预期得更快，你的炉子或烧烤将燃烧出明亮的橙色‘向日葵’火焰——这是一个信号，表明你正在使用碳中和的可再生氢气，其唯一的副产品是纯净水。”这个信号旨在提高公众对可能很快进入市场新替代能源的认识，向消费者表明，太阳能和风能发电可能不是未来几十年里唯一的可再生能源选择。

全球许多国家的政府都在努力争取到2050年前实现净零碳排放，并向能源公司施加压力，要求它们也这么做。这导致石油和天然气公司投资碳捕获和存储（CCS）技术，使其运营电力化，并大量投资可再生能源项目以抵消化石燃料活动。澳大利亚天然气分销巨头AGIG是旨在实现净零碳排放的公司之一。

AGIG负责人事和战略的执行总经理Kristin Raman强调，AGIG的目标是从天然气转向可再生能源。她解释说：“可再生天然气不仅仅是一个新名字，而且是一种包括可再生氢气和生物甲烷在内的新天然气，将由目前的天然气网络提供。”她说：“今天澳大利亚的能源系统依赖多种能源，天然气和液体燃料，汽油和柴油，液化石油气的使用量是电力提供的两倍多。在我们迈向净零排放的过程中，我们继续使用多种能源是很重要的。”

欧洲的能源公司对绿色氢气越来越感兴趣，欧洲几家主要的石油和天然气公司通过开发超级工厂投资欧洲的氢气热潮。蓝色氢气或灰色氢气由天然气产生，而绿色氢气则依赖利用可再生电力将水分解为氢和氧，从而产生零碳氢气燃料。欧洲的几家汽车制造商希望在未来的燃料电池汽车中使用绿色氢气作为电动汽车的替代品，提供更快的加气时间和更长的续航里程。但随着氢气产量在全球范围内的逐渐扩大，它也可以用于家庭烹饪。

与此同时，生物甲烷（又称可再生气体）是一种近乎纯净的甲烷来源，通过去除沼气中存在的任何二氧化碳和其他污染物来“升级”沼气，或者通过固体生物质气化后的甲烷化来生产。生物甲烷可以用作物残渣、动物粪便、城市固体废物、工业废物或废水污泥作为原料生产。 

虽然这家澳大利亚天然气公司暗示消费者转向可再生天然气可能有些夸张，但这很可能在未来几十年内实现。随着能源公司增加对零碳开发的投资，重要的是他们要迅速传播信息，建立一个消费者市场，一旦新能源可用，他们就会准备好接受新能源。在澳大利亚，一些可再生天然气试点项目已经启动并开始运行，南澳大利亚州氢气园区向大约700户家庭提供混合可再生天然气，并计划扩大其覆盖范围。

氢气和生物甲烷可以提供比电气化更便宜的解决方案，因为它不需要更新电杆和电线等电力基础设施，也不需要增加额外的电池。虽然生物甲烷可以用于人们现有的炊具，但家用电器需要更新或更换以适应绿色氢气燃料。 

然而，为了推广绿色氢气和生物甲烷气体，能源公司将不得不在生产设施的开发上投入大量资金。虽然可能有足够的原料来生产生物甲烷，但目前没有足够的加工厂来生产能够供国民消费的天然气。然而，澳大利亚天然气网络运营商Jemena表示：“到2030年前，我们可以在整个天然气网络中整合多达20%的生物甲烷和20%的氢气，这是一个广泛的共识。”

这不仅发生在澳大利亚，随着世界从化石燃料过渡到更绿色的替代品，世界各国政府和能源公司都在寻求开发各种各样的可再生能源项目，而不仅仅是太阳能和风能，以确保稳定可靠的可再生能源输出。在接下来的几年里，我们可以期待在几个国家看到更多的推广活动，随着能源公司开始发展他们的绿色能源市场，这将更新并提升消费者对各种替代能源的认知。 

李峻 编译自 美国油价网

原文如下：

The World Is Ready For A Renewable Gas Revolution

·     The future for renewable gas is looking increasingly promising, with companies around the world already teasing the idea of providing consumers with carbon-neutral gas.

·     Significant investment will be needed in order to ensure the necessary volume and infrastructure for renewable gas, which means it is unlikely to be commercially viable for years.

·     The term ‘renewable gas’ tends to refer to green hydrogen and biomethane, two distinct gasses that have plenty of pilot projects running and significant investment opportunities. 

An Australian advert hyped up the future of “renewable gas” this month in a bid to start raising public knowledge of new green energy projects that could eventually change our home energy use. Automakers and many energy majors have already set their sights on green hydrogen, but there is little public awareness of the potential shift away from natural gas to hydrogen and other alternatives. While it may be a long way off until universal access to these energy sources, the marketing drive starts now, as energy providers hope consumers will welcome new energy sources into their homes. 

A recent advert stated, “Sooner than you expect, your stove or barbecue will be burning with a bright orange “sunflower” flame – a signal that you’re using carbon-neutral renewable hydrogen gas, whose only by-product is pure water.” It was aimed at increasing public awareness of new alternative energies that may soon be making their way to the market, showing consumers that electricity from solar and wind power may not be the only renewable options in the coming decades. 

Many governments around the globe are striving for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and putting pressure on energy companies to do the same. This has led oil and gas firms to invest in carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies, electrify their operations and invest heavily in renewable energy projects to offset fossil fuel activities. One of the firms aiming to achieve net-zero is Australian gas distribution major AGIG.

Kristin Raman, Executive General Manager of People and Strategy at the company, highlights AGIG’s aim to shift away from natural gas to renewable alternatives. She explains, “Renewable gas is not just a new name, but a new gas including renewable hydrogen and biomethane that will be delivered by the current gas network.” “Today Australia’s energy system relies on diverse sources of energy – natural gas and liquid fuels - petrol and diesel – and LGP are used for more than double the energy provided by electricity… It’s important that as we move towards net-zero emissions we continue to use diverse sources of energy,” she added.

Energy firms in Europe have grown increasingly enthusiastic about green hydrogen, with several major oil and gas firms investing in Europe’s hydrogen boom through the development of gigafactories. Blue or grey hydrogen is produced from natural gas, while green hydrogen relies on using renewable energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen to create zero-carbon hydrogen fuel. Several automakers expect to use green hydrogen in fuel cell cars as an alternative to electric battery vehicles in the future, offering faster fuelling times and longer ranges. But hydrogen could also make its way into homes for cooking purposes as production gradually expands worldwide. 

Meanwhile, biomethane (aka renewable gas) is a near-pure source of methane produced either by “upgrading” biogas by removing any CO2 and other contaminants that are present in the biogas or through the gasification of solid biomass followed by methanation. Biomethane can be produced using crop residues, animal manure, municipal solid waste, industrial waste, or wastewater sludge as feedstocks. 

While the Australian gas firm may have been exaggerating by suggesting that a consumer shift to renewable gas is just around the corner, it may well be on its way within the next few decades. As energy firms increase their investments in zero-carbon developments, it is important that they get the message out there quickly to establish a market of consumers that will be ready to adopt the new energy sources once they become available. And in Australia, some renewable gas pilot projects are already up and running, as the Hydrogen Park South Australia delivers renewable gas blends to around 700 homes and plans to expand its reach. 

Hydrogen and biomethane could offer much cheaper solutions than electrification, as it does not require the need to update electrical infrastructure such as poles and wires and add additional batteries. Although, while biomethane can be used in people’s existing cookers, appliances will need to be updated or changed to accommodate green hydrogen fuel. 

To roll out green hydrogen and biomethane gas, however, energy firms will have to invest heavily in the development of production facilities. While there may be enough feedstocks to fuel biomethane production, there are not enough processing plants to make gas production for national consumption at present. However, Australian gas network operator Jemena says there is a “broad consensus that we could integrate as much as 20% biomethane and 20% hydrogen by 2030 across the gas network”.

This is not only true in Australia, with governments and energy firms worldwide looking to develop a variety of renewable energy projects, beyond just solar and wind power, to ensure stable and reliable renewable energy output as the world transitions away from fossil fuels to greener alternatives. We can expect to see more marketing campaigns across several countries in the coming years, raising consumer awareness around a variety of alternative energy sources as companies begin to develop their green energy markets.