Purdue Professor Helps Students Understand the Importance of Green Hydrogen in Online MS in Engineering Technology Program
John Sheffield, professor of engineering technology in Purdue University’s Polytechnic Institute, has a long-standing passion for developing green hydrogen sustainable energy solutions.
As a professor, he’s been able to share his insights on green hydrogen production with people all over the world – most notably, perhaps, Pope Francis. During the beginning of the pandemic, he had a conversation with the pope, who was trained as an analytical chemist, about using green hydrogen to power the popemobiles. Green hydrogen, it turns out, has promising applications from the bustling streets of Vatican City to Indiana, where it’s being used to help decarbonize industry.
“Green hydrogen is regarded as the best bet for harmonizing the intermittentness of renewable energy sources, while decarbonizing the important energy intensive industrial, chemical, and transportation sectors,” said Sheffield.
Sheffield teaches about energy sustainability and management in Purdue’s online Master of Science in Engineering Technology program. Through his courses, he helps students explore commercial and industrial energy management systems and model sustainability opportunities that have the potential to transform energy production as we know it. From his view, green hydrogen is already having an impact by helping reduce carbon emissions in numerous industries, from steel and cement manufacturing to generating renewable power for transportation.
However, for green hydrogen to work, to be truly “green,” renewable energy sources and infrastructure must be robust. That’s because green hydrogen’s production requires excess energy from the power grid to come from renewable sources like wind, solar and geothermal energy. Once renewable energy is produced in excess amounts – meaning there is energy left over after demand from consumers – green hydrogen can be made through a process called water electrolysis, where water molecules are broken down into hydrogen and oxygen and the hydrogen is extracted.
“When we build out our renewable energy sources and infrastructure, we want to utilize those and then put that electric power into the grid when we have excess,” Sheffield said. “Then, the grid doesn’t have demand, and we can produce hydrogen. The green hydrogen becomes the energy storage.”
The cities of West Lafayette and Lafayette, Indiana plan to start utilizing hydrogen energy in their public transportation system. Citybus of Greater Lafayette recently received a $10.5 million grant to help them fund a fleet of hydrogen buses, which will help the greater Lafayette community and Purdue University cut carbon emissions and improve air quality.
“We’re pleased to see (hydrogen fuel being utilized) here at Purdue University through the operation of the city buses,” Sheffield said. “Next year, we’ll have four hydrogen fuel cell buses in operation that the students in the community will ride.”
Students interested in hydrogen energy production can learn more by taking Sheffield’s courses in Purdue’s online master’s in engineering technology program. This program, offered by the Purdue Polytechnic Institute, allows students to explore issues at the intersection of engineering and technology, including sustainable energy. The program’s online courses are led by experts like Sheffield, who bring decades of real-life experience to the virtual classroom.
“(In my course) on energy, sustainability and management, students explore the role of energy management in commercial and industrial systems, including utility rate structures, economic evaluation of investments, potential retrofits for energy savings, maintenance considerations, and sustainability opportunities,” Sheffield said. “Students leave the course being able to estimate energy and cost saving opportunities for both commercial and industrial facilities by utilizing data from real-world energy audits.”
To learn more about Purdue’s online Master of Science in Engineering Technology, visit the program’s webpage.