Bloom, Cummins, First Solar: Stocks To Play The Hydrogen Economy

Bloom, Cummins, First Solar: Stocks To Play The Hydrogen Economy

30 June 2020, Thuringia, Erfurt: "H2" for hydrogen is written on the filling pump of a hydrogen ... [+] filling station that has not yet gone into operation on the premises of the Total station at the Urbicher Kreuz. On the same day, Thuringia's Environment Minister (Photo by Martin Schutt/picture alliance via Getty Images)



dpa/picture alliance via Getty Images

Interest in clean energy stocks has soared this year, driven by low-interest rates, improving economics, and the election of Democrat Joe Biden - who has proposed to spend as much as $2 trillion on fighting climate change - to the U.S. presidency. While solar and electric vehicle stocks have been the most high profile winners, another theme that appears to have caught investors' interest is the concept of the “hydrogen economy” or the use of hydrogen as a fuel for transportation and other energy requirements, replacing fossil fuels.

Hydrogen burns much cleaner than petroleum-based fuels and can be produced using just water and energy or from hydrogen-rich gases such as methane. Hydrogen is also seen as a means of storing excess renewable electricity - as the electricity can be used to run a process of