Sustainable Hydrogen Energy
Hydrogen offers the exciting prospect of a clean, sustainable and secure energy carrier of the future. Hydrogen can be produced from a variety of sources and could pave the way for the large-scale use of intermittent sources of renewable energy, such as solar, biomass, wind and wave power. There has recently been a large worldwide growth of interest in the potential for hydrogen to become a significant alternative energy carrier, which could potentially redefine the UK and global economies by the replacement of carbon based fossil fuels.
The United Kingdom Sustainable Hydrogen Energy Consortium (UK-SHEC) was established in 2003 as part of the EPSRC SUPERGEN initiative to encourage the development of sustainable power generation and supply.
UK-SHEC aims, via high-impact fundamental and applied research in science, engineering and socio-economics, to acquire knowledge and understanding of, and to guide and inform the use and integration of, sustainable hydrogen energy systems, nationally and internationally, and in partnership with industry, business, policymakers and the public.
Phase 1 of UK-SHEC has recently been completed, in July 2007. Information regarding initial research can be found at the UK-SHEC Phase 1 link.
In July 2007 the Consortium was awarded a further £5.97M funding from the EPSRC to continue and further progress their programme of work (UK-SHEC Phase 2). The Phase 2 Consortium is managed by Professor Peter Edwards (Management Director) at the University of Oxford and Dr Tim Mays (Operations Director) at the University of Bath. The Consortium also includes the Universities of Birmingham, Cambridge, Glamorgan, Glasgow, Manchester, Nottingham, Salford, Strathclyde, University College London, King's College London and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).
During Phase 2 UK-SHEC will continue to advance the fundamental challenges and opportunities in hydrogen production, storage and utilisation identified during Phase 1. Further information regarding Phase 2 can be found at the UK-SHEC Phase 2 link.
