Assessing the Role of Decentralized Green Hydrogen Technologies in Advancing Sustainable Green Building Development in Africa: Case Study of Malawi and Nigeria

Assessing the Role of Decentralized Green Hydrogen Technologies in Advancing Sustainable Green Building Development in Africa: Case Study of Malawi and Nigeria | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Assessing the Role of Decentralized Green Hydrogen Technologies in Advancing Sustainable Green Building Development in Africa: Case Study of Malawi and Nigeria Lydia Nduka Aremu, Emmanuel Olorunyomi Aremu, David Olukanni, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8975871/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The global pursuit of sustainable development highlights the urgent need for clean, renewable, and decentralized energy systems, especially in the built environment. This study examines the potential of decentralized green hydrogen technologies to foster sustainable green building practices in Africa. The study combines a comparative analysis of stakeholder perspectives in Malawi and Nigeria with a technical sizing assessment of Solhyd, solar-to-hydrogen systems. A mixed-methods approach was used in the study. First, a cross-sectional survey was conducted among 200 professionals, policymakers, and residents in both countries to evaluate perceived benefits, barriers to adoption, and driving factors towards adoption. Additionally, a technical analysis was conducted to determine the optimal system sizing of the panels to meet a minimum energy demand of three major types of residential buildings: rural, semi-urban, and urban. The respondents comprised 48.2% from Malawi and 51.8% from Nigeria. The results show that the highest-ranked perceived benefits, most critical barriers, and driving factors were “reducing reliance on diesel generators,” “high initial installation cost,” and “availability of infrastructure for production, storage, and distribution,” with mean scores of 3.93, 3.92, and 4.18, respectively. The technical analysis reveals that between 6 and 27 Solhyd panels can meet the typical daily electricity demand (2.5–10 kWh) of households in rural, semi-urban, and urban areas. This energy transition provides substantial environmental benefits, with a single urban home saving up to 5.77 metric tons of CO 2 annually. The study concludes that although the integration of decentralized green hydrogen is still in early stages, its potential remains significant. This study lays a foundational roadmap for policymakers and developers to create a scalable solution that powers Africa's sustainable urban growth, enhances energy independence, and achieves climate resilience goals. Energy Engineering Decentralized Green Hydrogen Sustainable Green Buildings Africa Malawi Nigeria Built Environment Energy Independence Climate Resilience Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to their involvement in the study. Participants were fully informed about the purpose of the research, the procedures involved, their voluntary participation, and their right to withdraw at any time without penalty. All participants indicated their understanding and provided consent to participate in the research. All participants were adults aged 18 years and above. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8975871","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":597439601,"identity":"e65c9e3e-647d-48e1-8bed-ec17255e83ec","order_by":0,"name":"Lydia Nduka Aremu","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0005-9261-2024","institution":"Department of Estate Management, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Lydia","middleName":"Nduka","lastName":"Aremu","suffix":""},{"id":597448854,"identity":"0ad9a9b6-be95-4648-ba52-252dd16248f6","order_by":1,"name":"Emmanuel Olorunyomi Aremu","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0008-1067-1816","institution":"Department of Civil Engineering, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Emmanuel","middleName":"Olorunyomi","lastName":"Aremu","suffix":""},{"id":597448855,"identity":"bba1ffbd-3db3-4bbc-be6b-3a6c53c82dcc","order_by":2,"name":"David Olukanni","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8156-2619","institution":"Department of Civil Engineering, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"David","middleName":"","lastName":"Olukanni","suffix":""},{"id":597448856,"identity":"a74bb19c-9c97-46c6-be8e-62ff408b0250","order_by":3,"name":"Sane Zuka","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Department of Estate Management, Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences, Malawi","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sane","middleName":"","lastName":"Zuka","suffix":""},{"id":597448857,"identity":"3c640214-b4a5-43a1-82d8-f43def6a716d","order_by":4,"name":"Theresa Mkandawire","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Department of Civil Engineering, Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences, Blantyre, Malawi","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Theresa","middleName":"","lastName":"Mkandawire","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-02-26 09:21:28","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8975871/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8975871/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":103553153,"identity":"8e62420e-583c-4041-8231-ea206ed65f39","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-27 03:04:57","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":854824,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"LydiaNdukaAremuFullPaperreview.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8975871/v1_covered_06388e0b-605a-4cf8-b3c6-c40d02e9ebec.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"\u003cp\u003eThe authors declare no competing interests.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInformed consent was obtained from all participants prior to their involvement in the study. 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This study examines the potential of decentralized green hydrogen technologies to foster sustainable green building practices in Africa. The study combines a comparative analysis of stakeholder perspectives in Malawi and Nigeria with a technical sizing assessment of Solhyd, solar-to-hydrogen systems. A mixed-methods approach was used in the study. First, a cross-sectional survey was conducted among 200 professionals, policymakers, and residents in both countries to evaluate perceived benefits, barriers to adoption, and driving factors towards adoption. Additionally, a technical analysis was conducted to determine the optimal system sizing of the panels to meet a minimum energy demand of three major types of residential buildings: rural, semi-urban, and urban. The respondents comprised 48.2% from Malawi and 51.8% from Nigeria. The results show that the highest-ranked perceived benefits, most critical barriers, and driving factors were \u0026ldquo;reducing reliance on diesel generators,\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;high initial installation cost,\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;availability of infrastructure for production, storage, and distribution,\u0026rdquo; with mean scores of 3.93, 3.92, and 4.18, respectively. The technical analysis reveals that between 6 and 27 Solhyd panels can meet the typical daily electricity demand (2.5\u0026ndash;10 kWh) of households in rural, semi-urban, and urban areas. This energy transition provides substantial environmental benefits, with a single urban home saving up to 5.77 metric tons of CO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e annually. The study concludes that although the integration of decentralized green hydrogen is still in early stages, its potential remains significant. This study lays a foundational roadmap for policymakers and developers to create a scalable solution that powers Africa's sustainable urban growth, enhances energy independence, and achieves climate resilience goals.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Assessing the Role of Decentralized Green Hydrogen Technologies in Advancing Sustainable Green Building Development in Africa: Case Study of Malawi and Nigeria","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-02-27 03:04:36","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8975871/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"6de3de51-ac09-472b-b8c1-b03a14793c30","owner":[],"postedDate":"February 27th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":63575229,"name":"Energy Engineering"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-02-27T03:04:36+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-02-27 03:04:36","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8975871","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8975871","identity":"rs-8975871","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}