Now that “green energy” is all the rage in some circles, there is a bit of a trade war breaking out between the United States and Europe, particularly when it comes to the growing field of hydrogen energy. Companies are planning new factories to manufacture the equipment required to produce hydrogen as well as building that actual hydrogen plants. One Norwegian company named Nel recently announced its own plans. But rather than staying in Europe and building their plant there, they will be coming to Michigan to set up shop. This led Politico to boldly proclaim that “Biden’s hydrogen bombshell leaves Europe in the dust!” It’s unclear if they have to declare that headline as an in-kind donation for Biden’s reelection campaign. But let’s see what this story is really all about.

European leaders have devoted tens of billions of dollars toward encouraging production of hydrogen, a clean-burning fuel that advocates say will create jobs and help fight climate change.

But now, many of those jobs will be going to the United States instead.

The clean energy subsidies that undergird President Joe Biden’s climate agenda have just prompted one Norwegian manufacturer to choose Michigan, not Europe, as the site of a nearly $500 million factory that will produce the equipment needed to extract hydrogen from water. And other European-based companies are being tempted to follow suit, people involved in the continent’s hydrogen efforts say — making the universe’s most abundant substance the latest focus of the transatlantic trade battle on green energy.

Can we just start off by agreeing that Politico’s choice of the phrase “Biden’s Hydrogen Bombshell” was a bit off, particularly given the current climate in Ukraine? If it was intentional, it was in somewhat poor taste. If it was an accident, the article probably could have used a second pass in the editing process.

Getting back to the underlying subject, the decision by Nel’s CEO means that the plant will be constructed in Michigan. That should create a few hundred jobs, plus generate some employment for the construction process. We can always use more jobs, so that’s all well and good. But what specifically does Joe Biden have to do with Nel’s decision and what is this “bombshell” of his?

Politico explains that Nel is coming to America because of all of the subsidy money that’s available at both the state and federal levels for qualifying green energy projects. And they explain that the biggest part of the money will come from the Inflation Reduction Act, so they’re giving the credit to the President.

In a humorous sidenote, Politico even refers to the IRA as “Biden’s flagship climate law.” They’re not even trying to hide it anymore. Now that the money is gone, everyone seems to feel free to point out that the bill was never about reducing inflation. It was a climate change bill. And a European company will be cashing in bigly thanks to the generosity of you the taxpayer. It must make you feel all warm inside.

As far as the final product goes, I’m not opposed to hydrogen as a fuel. As I’ve said here for years, when it comes to restoring America’s energy infrastructure, I’m an all of the above kind of person. But we should keep in mind that we only have one practical way of producing hydrogen (and oxygen) from water and that’s by running electricity through it. That’s what Nel’s electrolyzers will do.

But because of the inherent losses involved in any sort of energy conversion like this, the amount of electricity you’ll get from burning the hydrogen will be less than the amount you used to split the water. And unless you can find a purely “green” way to power the electrolyzer (referred to as “green hydrogen”), you’re probably going to be burning fossil fuels to create that final charge to put on the grid. So this scheme isn’t really as “green” as it’s being advertised to be. In many cases, they will be generating more greenhouse gases to produce the electricity, just so they can claim that they’re going green.

So there’s Biden’s “hydrogen bombshell” in a few paragraphs. I’m sure you feel better already.