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SUMMARY:Towards a sustainable hydrogen economy - Associate Professor John 
 Andrews\, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
DTSTART:20101112T110000Z
DTEND:20101112T120000Z
UID:TALK27869@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Rosalie Orriss
DESCRIPTION:The original concept of a “hydrogen economy” was conceived
  in the early 1970s when concerns were first being raised about shrinking 
 oil\, gas and coal supplies. Now that we confront the threat of irreversib
 le climate change\, as well as a looming deficit between oil demand and su
 pply\, this concept needs radical re-envisioning as a truly ‘sustainable
  hydrogen economy’. In this talk I will sketch some of the main features
  of such an economy.\n\nI will argue that hydrogen produced from renewable
  energy sources has a critical role to play globally as a replacement tran
 sport fuel to petroleum\, and as a long-term energy storage on our main el
 ectricity grids to allow continuous supply from intermittent renewables su
 ch as solar and wind. But unfortunately there is a lack of understanding c
 urrently by many governments around the world about what role hydrogen can
  play – indeed most current energy policies simply leave hydrogen out!\n
 \nThe sustainable hydrogen energy economy I propose involves decentralised
  production of hydrogen from a wide variety of renewables (solar\, wind\, 
 wave\, tidal and biomass)\, rather than large-scale centralised production
  and very long distance transmission of hydrogen via pipelines\, as mooted
  in the original hydrogen economy concept.\n\nIn seeking an alternative to
  petroleum for transport\, we should follow the old maxim of ‘horses for
  courses’\, and look for complementary deployment of hydrogen fuel cell 
 and battery vehicles depending on the transport service to be supplied. Pl
 ug in battery electric cars\, for example\, are highly suited for urban us
 age where only short trips (up to around 100 km) are to be made between re
 charging. But where greater ranges are required in cars\, and certainly in
  trucks\, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are essential. \n\nI will also give 
 a brief overview of our recent work on solar and wind hydrogen energy syst
 ems for remote or other standalone power supplies.\n\nAssociate Professor 
 John Andrews is the leader of the renewable-energy hydrogen research group
  and Director of the Master of Engineering (Sustainable Energy ) program i
 n the School of Aerospace\, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering\, at 
 RMIT University\, Melbourne\, Australia. His book Living Better with Less 
 published by Penguin in 1981 was one of the first works to propose sustain
 able development for Australia. He has played a pioneering role in assessi
 ng the potential and encouraging utilisation of wind energy for electricit
 y generation in Australia.\n
LOCATION:Engineering Department - Sir Arthur Marshall Meeting Room (2nd fl
 oor\, Inglis Building)
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