Safety key for building hydrogen economy

Date: 25/03/04

By Karen Carstens

JUST how safe the 'H' in 'H2O' really is, was stressed by experts who gathered to debate the prospects of a future hydrogen economy at a conference hosted by European Voice.

Concerns were expressed at the 18 March event by several delegates, including a representative of oil giant ExxonMobil (criticized by alternative energy providers, green groups and climate-change experts for sticking to a staunch 'pro fossil fuels strategy', versus venturing out into virgin 'new energy' terrain).

Still, a large question mark hangs for many over how to transport hydrogen and store it safely in filling stations. Sceptics warn that the stuff is highly flammable, making it too dangerous to consider for widespread use at present to power cars, buses, aircraft or boats. (Iceland, for instance, aims to have its entire fishing fleet running on hydrogen by 2050.)

But supporters say that while liquefied hydrogen should be handled with care, as it is flammable, it is no more dangerous than conventional petroleum in many respects. “Hydrogen is totally safe,” said Joachim Wolf, executive director of the Hydrogen Solutions division of German gas giant Linde and a member of the European Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Platform, called into being by the Commission to develop a long-term 'hydrogen road-map' for the EU.

“In some ways, it is safer than gasoline: hydrogen is not explosive, gas is explosive.”

Hydrogen, moreover, “has been safely handled for more than 90 years”. “I'm still alive,” he added, noting that he has been working with hydrogen for decades, albeit mostly in “homeopathic [ie very small] doses”.

Meanwhile Christian Egenhofer, a lecturer at Scotland's University of Dundee and an energy and climate change policy expert from the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), said safety was not the most pressing concern at present.

“Making it in an environmentally and cost-effective way is a much bigger issue than safety,” he said.

Green groups like the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) would like to see hydrogen developed solely from renewable, not fossil fuel, sources.

“We have to get renewables abundantly first in order to have a sustainable hydrogen economy,” said WWF climate policy expert Stephan Singer.

Yet this view is regarded highly sceptically by industry insiders who say more investment is needed to put a hydrogen economy in place as soon as possible in Europe.

They warn that the US and Japan are more attractive places for funds to flow into new fuel cell technologies, with Europe losing out in creating the appropriate market to make this a reality.

Another important issue is that, as a so-called energy carrier, hydrogen can be tricky - and costly - to store and transport.

“It is very much like electricity,” explained Linde's Wolf. “But unfortunately it cannot be stored like electricity, as it is an energy carrier only.”

Wolf also said the natural gas industry is ready to produce hydrogen en masse, while another expert said the technology is available to set up hydrogen filling stations across Europe today.

Report of a conference on the prospects of a future hydrogen economy hosted by European Voice on 18 Mach 2004.