The Bristol Enterprise Network is an initiative of the University of Bristol , providing a forum for exchange of knowledge between academia and high-growth enterprise.

I attended a very interesting event run by BEN entitled “The Hydrogen Economy”. The speakers were:

Given that it’s been a long time since I studied Physics, and longer still Chemistry, I am objectively unqualified to report on the detailed science; however there were several interesting points for policy makers.

Hydrogen is not a commodity that exists in a form suitable for direct energy generation. (Well, not on this planet anyway). Therefore strictly speaking the term Hydrogen Economy is a little bit ahead of its time. For the current century our particular interest is not the use of hydrogen as a primary energy source, but as an Energy Vector – a mechanism for storing, transporting and releasing energy generated elsewhere.

Professor Ross discussed some of the necessary developments for an economy based on Hydrogen use, and concomitant energy generation paths. There is an element of the Chicken/Egg problem in that widespread commercial use of Hydrogen requires a national infrastructure for moving the substance, but equally development of a national infrastructure depends on a commercialised market. A tricky problem, and not necessarily one that government should be seeking to solve at this early stage of technological development.

A particularly interesting project that Prof Ross mentioned  was the use of fuel cells as a means to smooth the output of wind turbines, currently under investigation in Greece using EU funding.

Dr Tim Mays discussed further aspects of the physical constraints and potential solutions for storage of Hydrogen. I was particularly surprised by some of his department’s research at Bath – certain chemical substances when suitably arranged can act as “compressors” by drawing hydrogen molecules into their structure without actually bonding to them. Thus a storage device consisting of a solid-state block of material can potentially store more hydrogen than an empty box of equal volume. With my limited scientific background, this struck me as quite counter-intuitive.

Paul Isbell gave a brief discussion of some of the initiatives the local council are involved with to promote and even use Hydrogen-based storage. Unfortunately there wasn’t really enough time to develop the ideas but their seemed to be some novel local initiatives in the planning stages. Mr Isbell expressed his view that nuclear energy should not be the foundation for generation of hydrogen, given the potential environmental impacts. I believe that this may be a false deduction, since nuclear technology – particularly high-temperature electrolysis – appear to be one of the best options for kick-starting the use of hydrogen and thus a means to reduce dependence of fossil fuels.

BEN events are always a good opportunity to meet a wide range of people from the local business community. Quick plugs: 

Richard Hellen of Hermes Energy Services (who explained for me the difference between primary energy and energy vectors)

Jas Singh of Auriga Energy Ltd. was one of the stand-outs of the evening. Jas has an unrivalled knowledge of current fuel cell technology and is the “Go-To” man for a requirement that needs fulfilling today. Auriga is currently developing motive power units for Rigid Inflatable Boats and Rickshaws.