The Hydrogen Economy: Global Industrial Chain, Techno-Economic Analysis and Low-Carbon Development Prospects

Abstract

Hydrogen is a critical zero-carbon secondary energy carrier for global energy transition, uniquely addressing the inherent electrification limits of traditional fossil energy systems in hard-to-abate sectors including heavy-duty transport, high-temperature industrial manufacturing, aviation and shipping. This paper systematically elaborates the development background, core definition and full industrial chain of the hydrogen economy, with in-depth quantitative and qualitative analysis of mainstream hydrogen production technologies, complete industrial system framework, full-life-cycle cost structure and diversified practical application scenarios. Meanwhile, this study explores the current economic development trends and future industrial structure evolution of the hydrogen economy, identifies its core competitive advantages in energy density, carbon neutrality and power grid stability, and summarizes the key practical challenges including high upfront capital investment, technical bottlenecks in storage and transportation, and incomplete supporting infrastructure. The results show that green hydrogen produced from renewable energy is the core long-term development direction of the global hydrogen economy, whose large-scale commercial deployment fundamentally relies on continuous technological innovation for cost reduction, complete infrastructure construction and coordinated global policy support.