Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Imperial hydrogen -Trading the Land Ecological unequal exchange between Namibia and Germany

Orbach, Tristan LU (2024) HEKM51 20241
Department of Human Geography
Human Ecology
Abstract
Climate change is escalating. In the search for alternatives to fossil fuels, many countries are pushing green hydrogen as an energy vector. The development of a hydrogen economy is planned, and social and ecological consequences are at risk of being neglected. Namibia has excellent conditions for renewables and plans to be a major exporter of green hydrogen. Germany is set to import green hydrogen while exporting technologies to produce the green hydrogen. To investigate the material consequences of the trade of hydrogen, especially embodied land, the thesis investigates at the first large-scale hydrogen project in Namibia, developed by Hyphen Energy. In a scenario where Namibia is exporting hydrogen to Germany while wind turbines and... (More)
Climate change is escalating. In the search for alternatives to fossil fuels, many countries are pushing green hydrogen as an energy vector. The development of a hydrogen economy is planned, and social and ecological consequences are at risk of being neglected. Namibia has excellent conditions for renewables and plans to be a major exporter of green hydrogen. Germany is set to import green hydrogen while exporting technologies to produce the green hydrogen. To investigate the material consequences of the trade of hydrogen, especially embodied land, the thesis investigates at the first large-scale hydrogen project in Namibia, developed by Hyphen Energy. In a scenario where Namibia is exporting hydrogen to Germany while wind turbines and electrolyzer technologies are traded from Germany to Namibia, I am analyzing the ecological unequal exchange occurring from this trade. This is done by using a life cycle assessment-based approach to calculating ecologically unequal exchange. These insights which reveal the consequences of this trade are further discussed from a radical environmental justice perspective. The concept is used to discuss if it can lead to argumentation that limits ecologically unequal exchange. The findings show that a future green hydrogen trade will probably include a significant unequal exchange of embodied land. Radical environmental justice applied to this case could change power structures which again could lead to less ecologically unequal exchange. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Orbach, Tristan LU
supervisor
organization
course
HEKM51 20241
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
language
English
id
9151829
date added to LUP
2024-07-24 11:54:35
date last changed
2024-07-24 11:54:35
@misc{9151829,
  abstract     = {{Climate change is escalating. In the search for alternatives to fossil fuels, many countries are pushing green hydrogen as an energy vector. The development of a hydrogen economy is planned, and social and ecological consequences are at risk of being neglected. Namibia has excellent conditions for renewables and plans to be a major exporter of green hydrogen. Germany is set to import green hydrogen while exporting technologies to produce the green hydrogen. To investigate the material consequences of the trade of hydrogen, especially embodied land, the thesis investigates at the first large-scale hydrogen project in Namibia, developed by Hyphen Energy. In a scenario where Namibia is exporting hydrogen to Germany while wind turbines and electrolyzer technologies are traded from Germany to Namibia, I am analyzing the ecological unequal exchange occurring from this trade. This is done by using a life cycle assessment-based approach to calculating ecologically unequal exchange. These insights which reveal the consequences of this trade are further discussed from a radical environmental justice perspective. The concept is used to discuss if it can lead to argumentation that limits ecologically unequal exchange. The findings show that a future green hydrogen trade will probably include a significant unequal exchange of embodied land. Radical environmental justice applied to this case could change power structures which again could lead to less ecologically unequal exchange.}},
  author       = {{Orbach, Tristan}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Imperial hydrogen -Trading the Land Ecological unequal exchange between Namibia and Germany}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}