When it comes to solutions to the climate crisis, we’re going to need a whole menu of options. One item on the menu: clean hydrogen.

The Joe Biden administration recently invested $7 billion into developing clean hydrogen hubs across the country, with hopes the technology could help reduce carbon emissions in a variety of industries.

“Many people call it a Swiss Army knife of decarbonization,” said Emily Pontecorvo, staff writer at Heatmap News. “But the problem of thinking of it that way is that it takes so much energy to make hydrogen that you really only want to use it in cases where you don’t really have any other options.”

On the show today, Pontecorvo explains the difference between “clean” and “dirty” hydrogen, how we might use hydrogen fuel, and why some climate advocates are skeptical of its climate friendliness.

Then, the other labor story of the summer: rounds of walkouts by pharmacy staff at CVS and Walgreens. And we’ll get into how Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s ongoing military promotion blockade has complicated a top military official’s health emergency.

Later, we’ll hear a listener’s concerns about nuclear energy. And another listener was wrong about which countries export petroleum (until they played Tradle).

Here’s everything we talked about:

- “Biden’s Big Hydrogen Experiment Is About to Begin” from Heatmap News

- “White House puts $7 billion toward hydrogen hubs” from Marketplace

- “The race to scale up green hydrogen” from Financial Times

- “Column: Hydrogen is a crucial climate solution. It’s also a distraction” from The Los Angeles Times

- “What is hydrogen, and can it really become a climate change solution?” from The Conversation

- “Biden administration invests in hydrogen fuel, but hurdles remain” from Marketplace

- “Top Marine General Hospitalized After Apparently Having Heart Attack” from The New York Times

- “CVS and Walgreens pharmacy staff begin 3-day walkout” from CNN

We want to hear your answer to the Make Me Smart question. You can reach us at makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.

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Hydrogen’s potential as a climate solution