HyVelocity Hub, a group including Amazon, Chevron, the Center for Houston’s Future and the University of Texas, hopes to be recognized as a regional hydrogen hub of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

According to a Houston Public Media news release, the DOE would earmark $7 billion from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to support a green economy and offset the impact of climate change.

"This trend that we're seeing toward moving from the hydrogen we produce today to producing clean hydrogen is happening already," Brett Perlman, CEO of the Center for Houston's Future, said in the news release.

Perlman also noted in the release that there is plenty of brainpower behind the effort, the right companies and infrastructure along the Lone Star State’s Gulf Coast to form a green hydrogen hub.

“The [Department of Energy] money is really about accelerating that trend, and the DOE money is a tool to leverage private-sector dollars,” Perlman said. 

Moreover, Perlman pointed out in the release that the region is the perfect incubator for such a project.

“Houston and the Gulf Coast region is the most logical place to create a hydrogen hub,” he said in the Houston Public Media release. "We can do this much faster, we can do it better, we can do it cheaper. That's what it's going to take to really crack the code on decarbonization.”

Brian Weeks, senior director of research operations for GTI Energy, agreed that it is a regional effort, according to the Houston Public Media release.

“It's not just Houston, but Houston is at the heart of it,” he said. 

Weeks added that the technology is in place to make the hub a reality, noting, “It’s an engineering challenge, not a science challenge.” 

Perlman concluded that mankind's impact on the planet is evident.

“We're living in a time where it's becoming clear that humans are impacting the climate in a significant way," Perlman said. “We need tools and a tool kit to mitigate the impacts of that. Hydrogen is one of those tools.”