A Proposal for the Transformation of Fossil Fuel Energy Economies to Hydrogen Economies Through Social Entrepreneurship

Abstract

The world is growing at an ever-increasing rate, but this growth has occurred alongside an energy model based on fossil fuels, which presents serious sustainability problems. The current study seeks to illustrate one of the new alternative energy schemes which could replace fossil fuels in the future: hydrogen. The promise of hydrogen fuel has led large nations to invest in transitioning their fossil fuel economies to a hydrogen-based model. This will result in significant social impacts, leading to the question, How should it be done? Social entrepreneurship can integrate socio-economic actors and agents and help them to devise and implement new forms of energy innovation, which will open spaces for new business models. The current study conceptualizes within a present-day context the connotations of the hydrogen economy at an international level, its implications to society, and its synergy with social entrepreneurship. The authors observed the rapid growth that these entrepreneurship initiatives are generating and how the models used to manage these undertakings play a vital role.