Jonathan Huaracha 1

Allison Bocchino

Writing 2

March 15, 2021

Green Hydrogen from the Perspective

of both

Environmental Science and Economics

A major cause of environmental harm on both a global and local scale that affects

everyone, is the issue of pollution and the energy crisis which is perpetuated by a societal

dependence on fossil fuel energy. There is, however, increasing advancements in the production

of sustainable sources that are able to produce zero carbon, with one being known as green

hydrogen. Looking at two research articles from the different disciplines of environmental

science and economics, both being about green hydrogen, we are able to see similarities and

differences between the two scholarly communities. Each article discusses and conveys the

importance of green hydrogen through their own forms of arguments, conventions, and evidence

used for their respective disciplines and discourse communities.

The discipline of environmental science is the most obvious discipline that is first thought

of when discussing the production and benefits of green hydrogen, as seen in the article “Green

methods for hydrogen production”.1 The article’s argument is the dire need for green hydrogen

instead of using fossil fuels as there are many green methods that are now available in

productioning it. The article makes this argument clear when in the introduction Dincer wrote, “a

comprehensive classification of green methods for hydrogen production is presented,...discussed,

1 Dincer, Ibrahim. “Green Methods for Hydrogen Production.” International Journal of

Hydrogen Energy. Pergamon, September 23, 2011.
 Huaracha 2

assessed and compared for various applications”.2 Dincer also makes the argument known

through introductioning the idea of “potential solutions” for the greenhouse gas emissions that

are currently being produced by the current usage of harmful fossil fuels.3 By having introduced

the harmful effects of greenhouse gas emissions the argument for the need of green hydrogen

production and the various methods to do so are accentuated as being the best solution for doing

so is a valid one. The research article in the discipline of economics, “Toward a Clean Energy

Economy: With Discussion on Role of Hydrogen Sectors,” argues that green energy sources

drive economic development with green hydrogen being one of them and uses a forecasting

model to showcase the economic benefit of using clean energy.4 By using the forecasting model

based on precedent in Taiwan the researchers highlight the benefits of using green energy, with

hydrogen at the center of it. With both research articles advocating for green hydrogen use, the

differences come in the form of what evidence, audience, and conventions they use to express

their message.

Looking at the differences in audience, conventions, and evidence used within the two

articles and their disciplines of environmental science and economics one can really notice the

contrast between the two. In the environmental science article “Green Methods for Hydrogen

Production,” the audience is environmental scientists who are experts and well informed in many

scientific processes, especially that of hydrogen production. This is made apparent by how the

article is organized in a way that resonates with the environmental science community. To

achieve this the discipline of environmental science organized the evidence of the article in a

2 Dincer, Ibrahim. “Green Methods for Hydrogen Production.” International Journal of

Hydrogen Energy. Pergamon, September 23, 2011. 1955.
3 Dincer, Ibrahim. “Green Methods for Hydrogen Production.” International Journal of
Hydrogen Energy. Pergamon, September 23, 2011. 1954.
4 Lee, Duu-Hwa, and Ching-Pin Hung. “Toward a Clean Energy Economy: With Discussion on
Role of Hydrogen Sectors.” International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Pergamon, 19 Mar. 2012.
15753
 Huaracha 3

way that utilized multiple tables and figures that showed several descriptions and visuals of how

green hydrogen is produced from using different resources and different methods. As seen in

“Table 1-Classifcation of green hydrogen production methods” the community of environmental

science created by the discipline make it so the scientists know what is being discussed in a way

that is easy for them to understand.5 In comparison to the article from the economic discipline

they are similar in the sense that they both use tables and figures to convey their information to

their audience. The table called “Output growth rate of clean energies and conventional fuels.

Scenario I. Unit: %.” represents the economic community as it shows economic information that

is specifically meant for economists with an understanding of numerical significance of the data

shown.6

The two articles greatly differ in their evidence and the conventions used to make that

difference clear as seen with the overall organization by the two communities. The convention of

specialized jargon is not unique to one article, but what the jargon does for each community and

discipline is very different when the audience is also considered. The environmental science

jargon is a convention that shows the specialized field of environmental science with

terminology that is not easy to understand unless familiar with them. The jargon in the article by

Dincer is meant to technical and explain chemical processes as well the nuance differences

between the methods of producing hydrogen. In contrast the jargon in the article “Toward a clean

energy economy: With discussion on role of hydrogen sectors” serves a different purpose due to

the difference in communities. In the economic discipline the jargon is specific and analytical,

making it very restrictive towards those without a complex understanding of the discipline of

5 Dincer, Ibrahim. “Green Methods for Hydrogen Production.” International Journal of

Hydrogen Energy. Pergamon, September 23, 2011. 1957.
6 Lee, Duu-Hwa, and Ching-Pin Hung. “Toward a Clean Energy Economy: With Discussion on
Role of Hydrogen Sectors.” International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Pergamon, 19 Mar. 2012.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article. 15759.
 Huaracha 4

economics through the use of jargon and hard to understand tables and figures. Nonetheless the

use of jargon differs between the two disciplines even though both are restrictive to others

unfamiliar with them. Both uses of jargon are complex and assume that the reader can

understand the information that they present but are difficult to understand for those unfamiliar

with environmental science and economics.

The evidence of each article to support their arguments makes use of their conventions by

using terminology and that is difficult to understand to anyone outside of the disciplines and

communities is apparent in both articles. In the environmental science discipline article the

evidence can be seen with the convention of jargon through phrases such as “Parameters of

typical water electrolysis cells,” which is the title of a table. The title itself is already difficult to

understand for those who have no prior knowledge of electrolysis cells, but the information itself

of chemical and electrical processes shows how specialized this article is for the environmental

science community. The discipline of economics in relation to green hydrogen use and

production, uses different methods of sharing their information, as seen through the article

“Toward a clean energy economy: With discussion on role of hydrogen sectors” by Duu-Hwa

Lee and Ching-Pin Hung. The goal of this article is to “analyz[e] how advances in clean energy

production...facilitated related economic development and intensified competition between clean

energy sources and fossil fuels” as stated in the abstract.7 This informs the reader of how this is

about economics and the results of the analysis describe how economic resources will be used to

frictionlessly transition to a clean energy economy, spearheaded by hydrogen technology. The

authors make a convincing argument for the benefits of clean energy sources, mainly that of

7 Lee, Duu-Hwa, and Ching-Pin Hung. “Toward a Clean Energy Economy: With Discussion on
Role of Hydrogen Sectors.” International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Pergamon, 19 Mar. 2012.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article. 15753.
 Huaracha 5

hydrogen, by using very detailed economic models that use various factors to show the

numerical and economical benefits of clean energy sources with hydrogen being one of the

highest. Having done economic research on the impact and benefits of hydrogen that is seen in

the article the authors of the research are able to use their evidence to state that “Biohydrogen

and hydrogen fuel cells will lead all clean energies, even under competition with other energy

sources.” at the conclusion of the article.8

The use of these figures and tables differ from the environmental science way as they are

complex and assume that the reader can understand the information that they present but are

difficult to understand for those unfamiliar with economics. With the audience being those who

know complex economics, the goal of this article is shared through information that uses jargon

that is very economic oriented and field related such as “macroeconomy” and “GDP”, thus

making the article assume that the audience has certain knowledge of the discipline (Lee and

Hung, 2012). Overall this article by Duu-Hwa Lee and Ching-Pin Hung is very audience specific

and analytical, making it very restrictive towards those without a complex understanding of the

discipline of economics through the use of jargon and hard to understand visuals.

After looking at a research article under each of the two disciplines of environmental

science and economics the differences between the two disciplines and the way that each of their

scholarly communities share information on the topic of green hydrogen and overall clean

hydrogen is vastly different. Firstly, the obvious difference is the audience that each article is

focused towards. The article under the environmental science discipline by Ibrahim Dincer is

environmental scientists that are familiar with hydrogen production. On the other hand the article

by Duu-Hwa Lee and Ching-Pin Hung, under the discipline of economics, is geared towards

8 Lee, Duu-Hwa, and Ching-Pin Hung. “Toward a Clean Energy Economy: With Discussion on
Role of Hydrogen Sectors.” International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Pergamon, 19 Mar. 2012.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article. 15763.
 Huaracha 6

those who have a sophisticated understanding of economics. Secondly, the way the evidence and

conventions used to convey the evidence while having similarities achieve their respective goals

that are unique to each discipline.

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Notes

1. Dincer, Ibrahim. “Green Methods for Hydrogen Production.” International Journal of

Hydrogen Energy. Pergamon, September 23, 2011. https://www-sciencedirect-

com.proxy.library.ucsb.edu:9443/science/article/pii/S0360319911019823?via%3Dihub#tbl1.

1954-197.

2. Lee, Duu-Hwa, and Ching-Pin Hung. “Toward a Clean Energy Economy: With

Discussion on Role of Hydrogen Sectors.” International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Pergamon,

19 Mar. 2012. www.sciencedirect.com/science/article. 15753-15765