266among both scholars and policymakers. The evidence furnished in this chapter provides insight into mechanisms that are alarming. As the European Union has moved further toward interventionist policies with regard to sustainability, there is great risk that the failures described in this chapter will increase in magnitude over the coming years. Having observed and described the government failures related to biogas and bio-ethanol from cellulose, we have subsequently taken these insights and applied them to the contemporary case of hydrogen steel and the European Union’s current efforts related to hydrogen gas. Our case descriptions and discussion conclude that Directionality in Innovation Policy and the Ongoing Failure of Green. . .
267hydrogen-based steel is not good for the environment and that it has potentially detrimental effects on the economy. Green electricity has a considerable opportunity cost, as estimations indicate that up to ten times more carbon dioxide can be saved by making use of green electricity in other ways. Hydrogen gas is associated with 30–40% losses in pure energy waste. Combining this with large technological uncertainties would arguably imply that when adjusting for risks, the net environmental benefits are questionable.
The effects on the Swedish economy may turn out to be disastrous. Expanding Sweden’s use of electricity by 50% in the coming 20 years requires a huge expansion of the country’s energy production. As there are both operational and political bottlenecks related to doing so, we see large risks of an electricity shortage if Hybrit is scaled up. H2GS alone wants to take 15 TWh into use for its potential 1500 jobs created in northern Sweden. This amount of electricity is enough to satisfy the needs of the entire Skåne region, with 600,000 jobs and 1.4 million inhabitants. In sum, these efforts seem to be poorly thought through, but they have nevertheless been met with a remarkably positive consensus among both industrialists and policymakers in Sweden. An important explanation for this discrepancy is most likely that the European Union has made billions of euros available as free money. These public funds related to hydrogen are part of the European Union’s Green Deal.