Pandemic sets Japan on course for deep recession

Pandemic sets Japan on course for deep recession

Household spending slumped 6.0% in March from a year earlier following a 0.3 percent fall in February, marking the biggest drop in five years, government data showed on Friday.. Analysts polled by Reuters expect Japan's economy to contract an annualized 4.6 percent in the January-March period.. Most hydrogen used today is extracted from natural gas in a process that produces carbon emissions, which defeats the object for many policymakers.. But there is potential to extract "green" hydrogen from water with electrolysis, an energy-intensive but carbon-free process if powered by renewable electricity.. Portugal plans to build a new solar-powered hydrogen plant which will produce hydrogen by electrolysis by 2023.. A major drawback of the green hydrogen that governments are most interested in is that it requires a large amount of renewable electricity to produce.. According to Bernstein analysts, hydrogen made from fossil fuels currently costs between $1-$1.8 per kilogram (kg).. Green hydrogen can cost around $6 per kg today, making it significantly more expensive than the fossil fuel alternatives.. Coupled with falling renewable energy costs, green hydrogen could fall to $1.7 per kg by 2050 and possibly sub-$1 per kg, making it competitive with natural gas.. For example, power from an