Driven by concerns over urban air quality, global warming caused by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and energy security, a transition from the current global energy system is receiving serious attention. Increasingly alternative economies are being suggested, whereby the growing energy demand of the future is met with greater efficiency and with more renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and biomass. This implies a gradual shift from the reliance on conventional hydrocarbon-driven technologies toward more innovative, carbon-neutral, sustainable ones. Using hydrogen in fuel-cell applications offers a number of advantages over existing fuels and other emerging competitors. It is a high-quality, carbon-free energy carrier that can achieve improved efficiencies with reduced or zero GHG emissions over the entire "well-to-wheel" (WTW) life cycle. These benefits are even further underpinned by the fact that hydrogen can be manufactured from a number of primary energy sources, such as natural gas, coal, biomass, and solar energy, contributing toward greater energy security and flexibility. Based on these attributes, a number of long-term strategic initiatives have been undertaken to promote the development of national and regional hydrogen economies [1]. This chapter focuses on hydrogen-related issues, starting from the introduction of hydrogen production technologies and their integration into a polygeneration energy system, and followed by a section of model-based strategic planning of hydrogen infrastructure. 2008 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.
