Study models costs and emissions of hydrogen pipelines across the United States
A Nature Communications paper by University of Wyoming researchers compares new dedicated hydrogen pipelines with converted natural gas lines. This story is based only on the abstract and the article page.
Key points
- 1A Nature Communications paper compares dedicated hydrogen pipelines with converted natural gas pipelines for hydrogen transport across the United States.
- 2The authors say existing pipeline models have underestimated construction material and labor costs relative to U.S. historical data.
- 3According to the abstract, transport costs vary with factors such as location, capacity and distance for both pipeline options.
- 4Reusing gas pipelines could substantially lower upfront capital spending but may involve tradeoffs in cost and life cycle emissions, the authors say.
- 5This story uses only the abstract and article page; the paper is an early, peer-reviewed version that may still be edited.
Full story
Researchers at the University of Wyoming have published a paper in Nature Communications that examines how pipelines could carry hydrogen across the United States. The open access article went online on 9 October 2026. According to the journal page, it is being shared early as peer-reviewed, accepted research, and this version may still be edited before the final Version of Record takes its place. This story draws only on the abstract and the information on the article page, not on the full paper.
The authors start from the view that pipelines are central to moving hydrogen within regions. They argue that existing pipeline models have “remarkably underestimated the construction-related material and labor costs compared to U.S. historical data.” In response, the team built linked models covering technical performance, economics and life cycle emissions, and used them to compare two options nationwide: building pipelines dedicated to hydrogen, and converting existing natural gas pipelines to carry it.
According to the abstract, the levelized cost of moving hydrogen through dedicated pipelines depends on many factors, among them location, capacity and distance. The researchers report comparable variation for converted natural gas lines. They also find that reusing existing gas pipelines could cut upfront capital spending substantially, but say this may come with tradeoffs in cost and in life cycle emissions. The abstract does not give specific cost or emissions figures, and none are reported here.
The authors conclude that combining their integrated pipeline models with multi-criteria analysis offers better guidance to those designing, planning and financing a hydrogen transport network that spans the country. The paper is by Ayush Singh, Haibo Zhai, Eugene Holubnyak and Curtis Biggs, all affiliated with the University of Wyoming; Zhai is also listed at Carnegie Mellon University. The page states that the work was funded by the Wyoming Innovation Partnership program and the University of Wyoming’s School of Energy Resources, and that the authors declare no competing interests.
Why it matters
The study looks at a choice for a nationwide U.S. hydrogen transport network: build new dedicated pipelines or convert existing natural gas lines. The authors argue that earlier models put construction costs too low, which would matter for planning and investment decisions if the finding holds. The abstract gives no figures, so the size of that gap and of the tradeoffs between the two options cannot be judged from it, and the online version may still change before the final Version of Record.
Timeline
· Published
Topics#Hydrogen#Pipelines#Energy infrastructure#Natural gas#Nature Communications#University of Wyoming
Sources
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