Hydrogen energy fuels interest

Researchers seeking ways to produce, use and store environmentally-friendly hydrogen energy are seeking $50m from industry, government and university sectors to establish a Hydrogen Energy Cooperative Research Centre later this year.

A consortium from UNSW, ANU, CSIRO Energy Technology, ANSTO, Bragg Institute, Monash, Queensland, Griffith, Curtin, UQ, VUT, USQ and the University of South Australia will today meet a host of companies with an interest in hydrogen energy, including Rio Tinto, Shell, BP, XSTRATA Coal and Toyota. The consortium will in March submit a business case to the Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) for CRC funding.

UNSW Professor Charles Sorrell said: "We hope to attract up to $30 million from the Commonwealth government and we've targeted $20 million in funding and support from the research and university sector."

New CRC funding guidelines stress the priority the government gives to projects with a capacity for a commercial return. The guidelines also demand more industry input into research agendas pursued by CRCs than previously.

"Establishing hydrogen as a mainstream fuel source could be 20 years away," said Professor Sorrell, "but it has the potential to deliver significant environmental benefits and reduce the environmental impact of current means of producing energy.

"Depending on how it's harnessed, hydrogen could supplement and ultimately displace the fossil fuels we use now in appliances, heating, cooking and transport, and therefore save on harmful greenhouse gas emissions."

Hydrogen usage in most applications can be regarded as greenhouse neutral, producing only water, and little or no other emissions. Where a fuel cell is used with pure oxygen, the hydrogen usage produces no greenhouse gas emissions.

Last year, the Bush Administration committed (US) $1.2 billion to develop hydrogen-fuelled cars by 2015. In October, the US car giant General Motors said the vehicle industry was less than a decade away from solving all the technical problems associated with mass production of hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicles.

The Victorian government has committed $35,000 to support the hydrogen energy CRC bid. The research partners will brief the office of NSW Energy Minister, the Hon Frank Sartor, in a bid for support from the NSW government.

The National Hydrogen Study, released late last year by the Commonwealth Department for Industry, Tourism and Resources, suggested that by 2030 half of all mobile phones and 20 per cent of road vehicles might be using hydrogen as a fuel source.

The study suggests consumers would have the choice of buying electricity from the grid or supplying their own energy needs via a hydrogen fuel cell that provides electricity and thermal energy for heating and cooling.

Item provided courtesy of UNSW