Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the (a) viability of hydrogen fuel cells and (b) associated energy costs of extracting liquid hydrogen on the reduction of carbon emissions.

The viability of hydrogen fuel cells depends on a number of factors including the nature of the application and the future costs of fuel cells and competing energy technologies. Hydrogen can be produced by a number of different routes, some of which are low carbon. There are energy costs associated with the production, storage, distribution and end use of hydrogen which depend on the approach taken. Hydrogen is typically stored in bulk as a compressed gas rather than a cryogenic liquid; both processes require energy.