United Kingdom

This work programme was focused on identifying a suitable odorant for use in a 100% hydrogen gas grid (domestic use such as boilers and cookers). The research involved a review of existing odorants (used primarily for natural gas) and the selection of five suitable odorants based on available literature. One odorant was selected based on possible suitability with a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) based fuel cell vehicle which could in future be a possible end-user of grid hydrogen. NPL prepared Primary Reference Materials containing the five odorants in hydrogen at the relevant amount fraction levels (as would be found in the grid) including ones provided by Robinson Brothers (the supplier of odorants for natural gas in the UK). These mixtures were used by NPL to perform tests to understand the effects of the mixtures on pipeline (metal and plastic) appliances (a hydrogen boiler provided by Worcester Bosch) and PEM fuel cells. HSE investigated the health and environmental impact of these odorants in hydrogen. Olfactory testing was performed by Air Spectrum to characterise the ‘smell’ of each odorant. Finally an economic analysis was performed by E4tech. The results confirm that Odorant NB would be a suitable odorant for use in a 100% hydrogen gas grid for combustion applications but further research would be required if the intention is to supply grid hydrogen to stationery fuel cells or fuel cell vehicles. In this case further testing would need to be performed to measure the extent of fuel cell degradation caused by the non-sulphur odorant obtained as part of this work programme and also other UK projects such as the Hydrogen Grid to Vehicle (HG2V) project would provide important information about whether a purification step would be required regardless of the odorant before the hydrogen purity would be suitable for a PEM fuel cell vehicle. If purification was required it would be fine to use Odorant NB as this would be removed during the purification step.

This report and any attachment is freely available on the ENA Smarter Networks Portal here. IGEM Members can download the report and any attachment directly by clicking on the pdf icon above.

Time is rapidly running out to make the crucial planning decisions and secure investment to keep the UK on track to deliver a reliable affordable and decarbonised energy system to meet future emissions regulation enshrined in the 2008 Climate Change Act according to a report published today by the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Prepared for the Prime Minister's Council for Science and Technology A critical time for UK energy policy details the actions needed now to create a secure and affordable low carbon energy system for 2030 and beyond.

The study looks at the future evolution of the UK’s energy system in the short to medium term. It considers how the system is expected to develop across a range of possible trajectories identified through modelling and scenarios.

The following actions for government are identified as a matter of urgency:

• enable local or regional whole-system large scale pilot projects to establish real-world examples of how the future system will work. These must move beyond  current single technology demonstrators and include all aspects of the energy systems along with consumer behaviour and financial mechanisms
• drive forward new capacity in the three main low carbon electricity generating technologies: nuclear carbon capture and storage (CCS) and offshore wind
• develop policies to accelerate demand reduction especially in domestic heating and introduce smarter demand management
• clarify and stabilise market mechanisms and incentives in order to give industry the confidence to invest.

New technologies could become unexpectedly significant – such as solar PV which has recently become much cheaper. But large scale deployment of novel technologies would take decades and the system cannot be planned on promises and aspirations alone. The Academy calls instead for a combination of known technologies to be scaled up to unprecedented levels and integrated in smarter ways.

The report notes that the addition of shale gas or tight oil is unlikely to have a major impact on the evolution of the UK's energy system as we already have secure and diverse supplies of hydrocarbons from multiple sources.

Dr David Clarke FREng who led the group that produced the report says: “Updating the UK energy system to meet the ‘trilemma’ of decarbonisation security and affordability is a massive undertaking. Meeting national targets affordably requires substantial decarbonisation of the electricity system by 2030 through a mix of nuclear power CCS and renewables with gas generation for balancing. Beyond 2030 we must then largely decarbonise heat and transport potentially through electrification but also using other options such as hydrogen and biofuels. We also need to adapt our transmission and distribution networks to become ‘smarter’”.

"Failure to plan the development of the whole energy system carefully will result at best in huge increases in the cost of delivery or at worst a failure to deliver. Substantial investment is needed and current investment capacity is fragile. For example in the last month projects like Carlton’s new Trafford CCGT plant have announced further financing delays and the hoped-for investment by Drax in the White Rose CCS demonstrator has been withdrawn. The UK has also dropped four places to 11th in EY’s renewable energy country attractiveness index.”

Link to document download on Royal Society Website

According to European Directive 2014/94/EU hydrogen providers have the responsibility to prove that their hydrogen is of suitable quality for fuel cell vehicles. Contaminants may originate from hydrogen production transportation refuelling station or maintenance operation. This study investigated the probability of presence of the 13 gaseous contaminants (ISO 14687-2) in hydrogen on 3 production processes: steam methane reforming (SMR) process with pressure swing adsorption (PSA) chlor-alkali membrane electrolysis process and water proton exchange membrane electrolysis process with temperature swing adsorption. The rationale behind the probability of contaminant presence according to process knowledge and existing barriers is highlighted. No contaminant was identified as possible or frequent for the three production processes except oxygen (frequent for chlor-alkali membrane process) carbon monoxide (frequent) and nitrogen (possible) for SMR with PSA. Based on it a hydrogen quality assurance plan following ISO 19880-8 can be devised to support hydrogen providers in monitoring the relevant contaminants.

<br/>Our industry is beginning its journey on the transition to providing the world with sufficient sustainable affordable and low emission energy.<br/><br/>Decarbonisation is now a key priority. Steps range from reducing emissions from traditional oil and gas operations to investing in renewable energy and supplementing natural gas supplies with greener gasses such as hydrogen.<br/><br/>This paper looks at the role hydrogen could play in decarbonisation.

Seizing the clean growth opportunity. The move to cleaner economic growth is one of the greatest industrial opportunities of our time. This Strategy will ensure Britain is ready to seize that opportunity. Our modern Industrial Strategy is about increasing the earning power of people in every part of the country. We need to do that while not just protecting but improving the environment on which our economic success depends. In short we need higher growth with lower carbon emissions. This approach is at the heart of our Strategy for clean growth. The opportunity for people and business across the country is huge. The low carbon economy could grow 11 per cent per year between 2015 and 2030 four times faster than the projected growth of the economy as a whole. This is spread across a large number of sectors: from low cost low carbon power generators to more efficient farms; from innovators creating better batteries to the factories putting them in less polluting cars; from builders improving our homes so they are cheaper to run to helping businesses become more productive. This growth will not just be seen in the UK. Following the success of the Paris Agreement where Britain played such an important role in securing the landmark deal the transition to a global low carbon economy is gathering momentum. We want the UK to capture every economic opportunity it can from this global shift in technologies and services.<br/>Our approach to clean growth is an important element of our modern Industrial Strategy: building on the UK’s strengths; improving productivity across the country; and ensuring we are the best place for innovators and new businesses to start up and grow. A good example of this is offshore wind where costs have halved in just a few years. A combination of sustained commitment – across different Governments – and targeted public sector innovation support harnessing the expertise of UK engineers working in offshore conditions and private sector ingenuity has created the conditions for a new industry to flourish while cutting emissions. We need to replicate this success in sectors across our economy. This Strategy delivers on the challenge that Britain embraced when Parliament passed the Climate Change Act. If we get it right we will not just deliver reduced emissions but also cleaner air lower energy bills for households and businesses an enhanced natural environment good jobs and industrial opportunity. It is an opportunity we will seize.

The UK is a world leader in the fight against climate change. In 2019 we became the first major economy in the world to pass laws to end its contribution to global warming by 2050. Reaching this target will require extensive systematic change across all sectors including industry. We must get this change right as the products made by industry are vital to life in the UK and the sector supports local economies across the country.<br/><br/>This strategy covers the full range of UK industry sectors: metals and minerals chemicals food and drink paper and pulp ceramics glass oil refineries and less energy-intensive manufacturing. These businesses account for around one sixth of UK emissions and transformation of their manufacturing processes is key if we are to meet our emissions targets over the coming decades (BEIS Final UK greenhouse gas emissions from national statistics: 1990 to 2018: Supplementary tables 2020).<br/><br/>The aim of this strategy is to show how the UK can have a thriving industrial sector aligned with the net zero target without pushing emissions and business abroad and how government will act to support this. An indicative roadmap to net zero for UK industry based on the content in this strategy is set out at the end of this summary. This strategy is part of a series of publications from government which combined show how the net zero transition will take place across the whole UK economy.

Thermal hazards from an under-expanded (900 bar) hydrogen jet fire have been numerically investigated. The simulation results have been compared with the flame length and radiative heat flux measured for the horizontal jet fire experiment conducted at INERIS. The release blowdown characteristics have been modelled using the volumetric source as an expanded implementation of the notional nozzle concept. The CFD study employs the realizable k-ε model for turbulence and the Eddy Dissipation Concept for combustion. Radiation has been taken into account through the Discrete Ordinates (DO) model. The results demonstrated good agreement with the experimental flame length. Performance of the model shall be improved to reproduce the radiative properties dynamics during the first stage of the release (time < 10 s) whereas during the remaining blowdown time the simulated radiative heat flux at five sensors followed the trend observed in the experiment.

A key element in the safe operation of a modern gas distribution system is gas detection. The addition of hydrogen to natural gas will alter the characteristics of the fuel and therefore its impact on gas detection must be considered. It is important that gas detectors remain sufficiently sensitive to the presence of hydrogen and natural gas mixtures and that they do not lead to false readings. This paper presents analyses of work performed as part of the Office for Gas and Energy Markets (OFGEM) funded HyDeploy project on the response of various natural gas industry detectors to blended mixtures up to 20 volume percent (vol%) of hydrogen in natural gas. The scope of the detectors under test included survey instruments and personal monitors that are used in the gas industry. Four blend ratios were analysed (0 10 15 and 20 vol% hydrogen in natural gas). The laboratory testing undertaken investigated the following:

• Flammable response to blends in the ppm range (0-0.2 vol%);
• Flammable response to blends in the lower explosion limit range (0.2-5 vol%);
• Flammable response to blends in the volume percent range (5-100 vol%);
• Oxygen response to blends in the volume percent range (0-25 vol%); and
• Carbon monoxide response to blends in the ppm range (0-1000 ppm).

Catalytic and thermal conductivity based flammable detectors in the volume percent range are as expected affected in the form of a relative increase in output. All of the carbon monoxide detectors tested were found to be cross-sensitive to hydrogen in the blended mixtures tested at levels which have the potential to cause false alarms at current permissible leakage rates. In summary a number of measurement ranges across multiple detectors commonly used in the gas industry have been found to be cross-sensitive to hydrogen in natural gas blends to differing degrees. This required the HyDeploy project to select alternative instruments for the purpose of gas detection as part of the trial. This paper relates to the preparatory work to introduce hydrogen into the Keele closed network.

<br/>Cyclic Voltammetry Measurements performed on a Cobaloxime Catalyst designed for photochemical hydrogen production.

This report summarises key themes emerging from the Energy Technologies Institute’s (ETI) project ‘Enabling efficient networks for low carbon futures’. The project aimed to explore the options for reforming the governance and regulatory arrangements to enable major changes to and investment in the UK’s energy network infrastructures. ETI commissioned four expert perspectives on the challenges and options facing the UK.

This paper proposes that whilst the exact pathway to decarbonising heat in the UK is not yet clear there are a range of actions that could be taken in the next ten years to shift heat onto the right route to meet our 2050 net zero obligation. We already possess many of the skills and technologies required but there are a number of significant barriers preventing a spontaneous movement towards low carbon heat on the scale required – a starting impulse is needed.<br/><br/>Energy efficiency and low carbon heating have the potential to radically improve the quality of life of not just the poorest in our society but all residents of the United Kingdom. With the right approach the decarbonisation of heat can improve health outcomes for millions create new jobs in manufacturing and construction reduce air pollution in our cities and reduce the burden on our health service. This in addition to leading the world in mitigating the climate emergency.

HyNet North West (NW) is an innovative integrated low carbon hydrogen production distribution and carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) project. It provides hydrogen distribution and CCUS infrastructure across Liverpool Manchester and parts of Cheshire in support of the Government’s Clean Growth Strategy (CGS) and achievement of the UK’s emissions reduction targets.<br/>Hydrogen will be produced from natural gas and sent via a new pipeline to a range of industrial sites for injection as a blend into the existing natural gas network and for use as a transport fuel. Resulting carbon dioxide (CO2) will be captured and together with CO2 from local industry which is already available sent by pipeline for storage offshore in the nearby Liverpool Bay gas fields. Key data for the Project are presented in Table ES1.

Capturing and sealing away carbon dioxide released from industrial processes and electricity generation is acknowledged internationally to be potentially a winning intervention in the battle against climate change. The collected technologies that make up Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) could remove more than 90% of the carbon emissions from energy intensive industries and electricity production. In power generation CCS not only provides low-carbon output but it also preserves capacity in fossil fuel-fired plant to respond to shifts in demand. This is a near-unique combination that could mitigate the different shortcomings of harnessing the wind the sun or nuclear fission.<br/>CCS could clear a path to the UK’s carbon reduction targets; secure its energy supplies; and reduce the cost of those achievements. With CCS in play a low-carbon future with secure energy supplies becomes affordable. However without our research has found that the costs of meeting the UK’s lowcarbon targets could double to £60bn a year by 2050 at today’s prices.<br/>However CCS has to be honed technically and commercially before it can become a reality. ETI supported by its partners has made important progress and continues to do so.

Our gas network is one of the best developed in the world providing safe secure affordable energy to homes and businesses across the UK.<br/><br/>To meet the biggest energy challenge of our generation – making deep cuts to carbon emissions by 2050 – it needs to embrace new technology which builds on these strengths and delivers the integrated flexible network of the future. This briefing sets out how it is already doing that. Take a look at our Gas Futures Messages booklet attached.

The Hydrogen Taskforce welcomes the opportunity to submit evidence to the Business Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee’s inquiry into decarbonising heat in homes. It is the Taskforce’s view that:

• Decarbonising heat is one of the biggest challenges that the UK faces in meeting Net Zero and several solutions will be required;
• Hydrogen can play a valuable role in reducing the cost of decarbonising heat. Its high energy density enables it to be stored cost effectively at scale providing system resilience;
• Hydrogen heating can be implemented at minimal disruption to the consumer;
• The UK holds world-class advantages in hydrogen production distribution and application; and
• Other economies are moving ahead in the development of this sector and the UK must respond.

In March 2020 the Taskforce has defined a set of policy recommendations for Government which are designed to ensure that hydrogen can scale to meet the future demands of a net zero energy system: • Development of a cross departmental UK Hydrogen Strategy within UK Government;• Commit £1bn of capex funding over the next spending review period to hydrogen production storage and distribution projects;• Develop a financial support scheme for the production of hydrogen in blending industry power and transport.• Amend Gas Safety Management Regulations (GSMR) to enable hydrogen blending and take the next steps towards 100% hydrogen heating through supporting public trials and mandating 100% hydrogen-ready boilers by 2025; and• Commit to the support of 100 Hydrogen Refuelling Stations (HRS) by 2025 to support the rollout of hydrogen transport.





You can download the whole document from the Hydrogen Taskforce website here

Outline

This is the eighth annual Progress Report to the Scottish Parliament required by Scottish Ministers under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009. It assesses Scotland’s progress in achieving its legislated targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Overall greenhouse gas emissions reduced by 3% in 2017 compared to a 10% fall in 2016. The fall was again led by the power sector due in large part to Scotland’s first full year of coal-free electricity generation. Recent performance in other sectors shows only incremental improvement at best and unless emissions reductions are delivered economy-wide Scotland is at risk of missing its new interim target of a 56% reduction in emissions by 2020.

Key findings

Setting a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions target for 2045 represents a step-change in ambition for Scotland.

The Scottish Parliament’s 2030 target to reduce emissions by 75% will be extremely challenging to meet. It must be backed up by steps to drive meaningful emissions reductions immediately.

Scotland’s Programme for Government 2019-20 alongside other recent policies sent a clear signal that the Scottish Government is taking its more ambitious targets seriously but there is much more to do.

Scotland’s ability to deliver its net-zero target is contingent on action taken in the UK and vice versa.

The rare earth metals have been identified by the European Union and the United States as being at greatest supply risk of all the materials for clean energy technologies. Of particular concern are neodymium and dysprosium both of which are employed in neodymium–iron–boron based magnets. Recycling of magnets based on these materials and contained within obsolete electronic equipment could provide an additional and secure supply. In the present work hydrogen has been employed as a processing agent to decrepitate sintered neodymium–iron–boron based magnets contained within hard disk drives into a demagnetised hydrogenated powder. This powder was then extracted mechanically from the devices with an extraction efficiency of 90 ± 5% and processed further using a combination of sieves and ball bearings to produce a powder containing <330 parts per million of nickel contamination. It is then possible for the extracted powder to be re-processed in a number of ways namely directly by blending and re-sintering to form fully dense magnets by Hydrogenation Disproportionation Desorption Recombination processing to produce an anisotropic coercive powder suitable for bonded magnets by re-melting; or by chemical extraction of the rare earth elements from the alloy. For example it was shown that by the re-sintering route it was possible to recover >90% of the magnetic properties of the starting material with significantly less energy than that employed in primary magnet production. The particular route used will depend upon the magnetic properties required the level of contamination of the extracted material and the compositional variation of the feedstock. The various possibilities have been summarised in a flow diagram.

Underexpanded jet releases from circular nozzles have been studied extensively both experimentally and numerically. However jet releases from rectangular openings have received much less attention and information on their dispersion behaviour is not as widely available. In this paper Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is used to assess the suitability of using a pseudo-source approach to model jet releases from rectangular openings. A comparative study is performed to evaluate the effect of nozzle shape on jet structure and dispersion characteristics for underexpanded hydrogen jet releases. Jet releases issuing from a circular nozzle and rectangular nozzles with aspect ratios ranging from two to eight are modelled including resolution of the near-field behaviour. The experimental work of Ruggles and Ekoto (2012 2014) is used as a basis for validating the modelling approach used and an additional case study in which jets with a stagnation-to-ambient pressure ratio of 300:1 are modelled is also performed. The CFD results show that for the 10:1 pressure ratio release the hazard volume and hazard distance remain largely unaffected by nozzle shape. For the higher pressure release the hazard volume is larger for the rectangular nozzle releases than the equivalent release through a circular orifice though the distance to lower flammability limit is comparable across the range of nozzle shapes considered. For both of the release pressures simulated the CFD results illustrate that a pseudo-source approach produces conservative results for all nozzle shapes considered. This finding has useful practical implications for consequence analysis in industrial applications such as the assessment of leaks from flanges and connections in pipework.

Purpose- To present an overview of the research and development carried out in a European funded framework 7 (FP7) project called SafeHPower for the implementation of neutron radiography to inspect fatigue cracks in vehicle and storage hydrogen fuel tanks. Project background– Hydrogen (H2) is the most promising replacement fuel for road transport due to its abundance efficiency low carbon footprint and the absence of harmful emissions. For the mass market of hydrogen to take off the safety issue surrounding the vehicle and storage hydrogen tanks needs to be addressed. The problem is the residual and additional stresses experienced by the tanks during the continuous cyclic loading between ambient and storage pressure which can result in the development of fatigue cracks. Steel tanks used as storage containers at service stations and depots and/or the composite tanks lined with steel are known to suffer from hydrogen embrittlement (HE). Another issue is the explosive nature of hydrogen (when it is present in the 18-59% range) where it is mixed with oxygen which can lead to catastrophic consequences including loss of life. Monitoring systems that currently exist in the market impose visual examination tests pressure tests and hydrostatic tests after the tank installation [1] [2]. Three inspection systems have been developed under this project to provide continuous monitoring solutions. Approach and scope- One of the inspection systems based on the neutron radiography (NR) technology that was developed in different phases with the application of varied strategies has been presented here. Monte Carlo (MCNP) simulation results to design and develop a bespoke collimator have been presented. A limitation of using an inertial electrostatic Deuterium-Tritium (D-T) pulsed neutron generator for fast neutron radiography has been discussed. Radiographs from the hydrogen tank samples obtained using thermal neutrons from a spallation neutron source at ISIS Rutherford laboratory UK have been presented. Furthermore radiograph obtained using thermal neutrons from a portable D-T neutron generator has been presented. In conclusion a proof in principle has been made to show that the defects in the hydrogen fuel tank can be detected using thermal neutron radiography.

Smart energy hubs (Smart Hubs) equipped with Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) charging photovoltaic (PV) energy generation and hydrogen storage capabilities are an emerging technology with potential to alleviate the impact of electric vehicles (EV) on the electricity grid. Their operation however is characterised by intermittent PV energy generation as well as uncertainties in EV traffic and driver preference. These uncertainties when combined with the need to maximise their financial return while guaranteeing driver satisfaction yields a challenging decision-making problem. This paper presents a novel Monte-Carlo-based modelling and computational framework for simulating the operation of Smart Hubs — providing a means for a holistic assessment of their technical and financial viability. The framework utilises a compact and representative mathematical model accounting for power losses PV module degradation variability in EV uptake price inflation driver preference and diversity in charge points and EVs. It provides a comprehensive approach for dealing with uncertainties and dependencies in EV data while being built on an energy management algorithm that maximises revenue generation ensures driver satisfaction and preserves battery life. The energy management problem is formulated as a mixed-integer linear programming problem constituting a business case that includes an adequate V2G reward model for drivers. To demonstrate its applicability the framework was used to assess the financial viability of a fleet management site for various caps on vehicle stay at the site. From the assessment controlled charging was found to be more financially rewarding in all cases yielding between 1.7% and 3.1% more revenue than uncontrolled charging. The self-consumption of the site was found to be nearly 100% due mainly to local load shifting and dispatchable hydrogen generation. V2G injection was however negligible — suggesting its unattractiveness for sites that do not participate in the demand side response market. Overall the numerical results obtained validate the applicability of the proposed framework as a decision-support tool in the sustainable design and operation of Smart Hubs for EV charging.

The Energy Research Accelerator (ERA) and the Birmingham Energy Institute have launched a policy commission to examine the state of play barriers challenges and opportunities for Energy from Waste (EfW) to form part of the regional energy circular economy in the Midlands. This policy commission explores the case for regional investment whilst helping shape the regional local government and industry thinking surrounding critical issues such as fuel poverty and poor air quality.

The Challenge

Tackling climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our time. To follow the path for limiting global warming below 2^ᵒC set out in the 2015 Paris agreement requires significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The UK has committed to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 requiring action at a local regional and national level to transition to a zero carbon economy.

To decarbonise and decentralise the UK’s energy system we must implement technologies that provide energy supply solutions across the UK.

In the Midlands many industrial sites are unable to access supply of affordable clean and reliable energy to meet their demands.

Energy from Waste (EfW) could offer a solution to the Midlands based industrial sites. EfW sites provide affordable secure energy supply solutions that form part of a developing circular economy. EfW reduces our reliance on landfills and obtains the maximum value from our waste streams. There are a number of merging technologies that could potentially play an important role which treats waste as a resource properly integrated into an energy and transport system and fully respects the potential of linking in the circular economy.

Investment into EfW infrastructure in the region could lead to job creation and economic growth and could help provide inward investment needed to redevelop old industrial sites and retiring power stations. However for EfW to be part of a net-zero energy system (either in transition or long-term) technologies and processes are needed that reduce the current carbon emissions burden.

EfW could play a significant role in the net zero carbon transition in the Midlands supplying heat power and green fuels and solve other problems - the region has some of the highest levels of energy/fuel poverty and poor air quality in the UK.  The policy commission will help shape the regional local government and industry thinking surrounding this important topic.

Report Recommendations

Recovery Resource Cluster

The EfW policy commission proposes three major areas where it believes that government investment would be highly beneficial

• Building a network of local and regional Resource Recovery Clusters
• Creating a National Centre for the Circular Economy
• Launching an R&D Grand Challenge to develop small-scale circular carbon capture technologies.

The Resource Recovery Clusters (RRC) will be developed on post-industrial sites which could produce significant environmental economic and regeneration benefits. The RRCs combine a spread of EfW and recycling technologies with businesses that can consume their cheap electricity heat fuels CO₂ and material outputs.

The National Centre for the Circular Economy would analyse material flows throughout the economy down to regional and local levels and develop deep expertise in recycling and EfW technologies. The CCE would also provide expert guidance and support for local authorities as they develop local or regional strategies and planning frameworks.

The R&D Grand Challenge aims to make big advances in small-scale carbon capture technologies in order to turn 100% of CO₂ produced through the process of converting waste to energy into useful products. This is very important for areas such as the Midlands which are remoted from depleted oil and gas reservoirs.

Hydrogen could be used as a ‘cleaner’ cooking fuel particularly in communities that rely on biomass and fossil fuels to reduce local pollution and related health effects. However hydrogen must be produced using sustainable feedstocks and energy sources to ensure that local impacts are not reduced at the expense of other impacts generated elsewhere in the life cycle. To this end this paper evaluates life cycle environmental impacts of renewable hydrogen produced in a proton-exchange membrane electrolyser using solar energy. The aim of the study is to find out if hydrogen produced in this system and used as a cooking fuel is environmentally sustainable in comparison with conventional cooking fuels typically used in developing countries such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) charcoal and firewood. The results suggest that hydrogen would reduce the climate change impact by 2.5–14 times to 0.04 kg CO₂ eq./MJ compared to firewood (0.10 kg CO2 eq./MJ) and LPG (0.57 kg CO₂ eq./MJ). Some other impacts would also be lower by 6%–35 times including depletion of fossil fuels summer smog and health effects from emissions of particulates both locally and across the rest of the life cycle. However some other impacts would increase by 6%–6.7 times such as depletion of metals and freshwater and marine ecotoxicity. These are mainly due to the solar photovoltaic panels used to generate power for the electrolyser. In terms of the local impacts the study suggests that hydrogen would reduce local pollution and related health impacts by 8%–35 times. However LPG is still environmentally a better option than hydrogen for most of the impacts both at the point of use and on a life cycle basis.

Expectations for energy storage are high but large-scale underground hydrogen storage in porous media (UHSP) remains largely untested. This article identifies and discusses the scientific challenges of hydrogen storage in porous media for safe and efficient large-scale energy storage to enable a global hydrogen economy. To facilitate hydrogen supply on the scales required for a zero-carbon future it must be stored in porous geological formations such as saline aquifers and depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs. Large-scale UHSP offers the much-needed capacity to balance inter-seasonal discrepancies between demand and supply decouple energy generation from demand and decarbonise heating and transport supporting decarbonisation of the entire energy system. Despite the vast opportunity provided by UHSP the maturity is considered low and as such UHSP is associated with several uncertainties and challenges. Here the safety and economic impacts triggered by poorly understood key processes are identified such as the formation of corrosive hydrogen sulfide gas hydrogen loss due to the activity of microbes or permeability changes due to geochemical interactions impacting on the predictability of hydrogen flow through porous media. The wide range of scientific challenges facing UHSP are outlined to improve procedures and workflows for the hydrogen storage cycle from site selection to storage site operation. Multidisciplinary research including reservoir engineering chemistry geology and microbiology more complex than required for CH₄ or CO₂ storage is required in order to implement the safe efficient and much needed large-scale commercial deployment of UHSP.

Concerns about greenhouse gases as well as the price and security of oil supply have acted as a spur to sustainable automobile development. The hydrogen fuel cells electric vehicle (HFCEV) is generally recognised by leading automobile manufacturers and scientists as one of the optimum technologies for long-term future low carbon vehicle. In a typical HFCEV power train a DC–DC converter is required to balance the voltage difference between the fuel cells (FCs) stack and batteries. However research shows that a considerable amount of energy generated by the hydrogen FCs stack is deplete during this conversion process as heat. This experiment aims to improve the power train efficiency by eliminating the DC–DC converter by finding the best combination of FC stack and batteries matching the size and capacity of the electrical components.

Humans directly or indirectly generate over 105 billion tonnes of organic wastes globally each year all of which release harmful methane and other greenhouse gas emissions directly into the atmosphere as they decompose. These organic wastes include food waste sewage and garden wastes food and drink processing wastes and farm and agricultural wastes. Today only 2% of these are treated and recycled.



By simply managing these important bioresources more effectively we can cut global Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by 10% by 2030. This report maps out how the global biogas industry can enable countries to deliver a 10% reduction in global GHG emissions by 2030. The pathways put humanity back on track to deliver by 2030 on the ambitions of both the Paris Agreement and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).



The report and the executive summary can be downloaded at this link