Risoe National Laboratory Slide no. 1 International Hydrogen Day Berlin, February 24 th 2005 Sustainable Mobility and Hydrogen Hans Larsen, Head of Department Chairman, Management and Policy Committee UNEP Risoe Centre on Energy, Climate and Sustainable Development

Risoe National Laboratory Slide no. 2 International Hydrogen Day Berlin, February 24 th 2005 Sustainable Mobility and Hydrogen “In a world facing growing environmental problems and diminishing oil reserves, hydrogen is one of the most likely long-term options, especially for transportation” Klaus Toepfer

Risoe National Laboratory Slide no. 3 Why Hydrogen?  Opportunity for a sustainable energy system  Security of supply  Climate change  Alternative fuel for the transport sector  New link between transport and other parts of the energy sector

Risoe National Laboratory Slide no. 4 Hydrogen is valuable today  Energy carrier – not energy source  Manufactured on the basis of natural gas  Utilized in refineries and chemical industry  The hydrogen economy is technically feasible – the decisive factor is cost

Risoe National Laboratory Slide no. 5 The demonstration project ECTOS/CUTE – Clean Urban Transport for Europe BMW H2 ICE car in the Munich Airport Hydrogen FC bus in Reykjavik The Utsira Hydrogen-Wind demonstration project Spacecraft have long been fuelled by hydrogen

Risoe National Laboratory Slide no. 6 Rapidly growing interest in the hydrogen economy  Full speed ahead in EU, USA and Japan  Need for cooperation between research institutions and business  Need for political support  What about Developing Countries?

Risoe National Laboratory Slide no. 7  Bush’s Freedom car initiative announced in February 2002  The European hydrogen vision report presented in Brussels in June 2003  The International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy founded in November 2003 Significant growth in number of projects  The Quick-start hydrogen programmes of the EU Growth Initiative announced in November 2003  The European Platform for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies launched in January 2004

Risoe National Laboratory Slide no. 8 Hydrogen could be the missing link  Hydrogen could link the power system to the transport sector, increasing the flexibility and robustness of the total energy system  The choice of hydrogen production technology and energy source determines the sustainability of the hydrogen economy

Risoe National Laboratory Slide no. 9 Driving forces  Increased use of renewable energy in the transport sector  Use in the transport sector can reduce local and global pollution  The robustness and flexibility of the energy system will be increased

Risoe National Laboratory Slide no. 10 Driving forces  The development of fuel cells and a hydrogen economy will provide new market opportunities  Fuel cells for battery replacement and backup power systems are niche markets in which price and efficiency are relatively unimportant

Risoe National Laboratory Slide no. 11 Barriers  Technological breakthroughs are necessary  Not yet a competitive and cost-effective technology

Risoe National Laboratory Slide no. 12 Barriers Need for:  Competitive and economic production of hydrogen  Better storage methods  Lower prices for fuel cells  Infrastructure for the transport sector

Risoe National Laboratory Slide no. 13 Environment  Present knowledge indicates that hydrogen as an energy carrier will involve little environmental risk  Atmospheric hydrogen concentrations should be carefully monitored

Risoe National Laboratory Slide no. 14 Environment  Research should be carried out to obtain a better understanding of hydrogen sources and sinks...  and to provide an early warning system in case we have overlooked something

Risoe National Laboratory Slide no. 15 Safety  Hydrogen is no more hazardous than conventional fuels, as long as the proper technical standards and safety rules are used  The international discussions now taking place will help to ensure adequate safety in the new hydrogen technologies

Risoe National Laboratory Slide no. 16 Safety  Safety should be an integral part of hydrogen technology; common standards will help the growth of the hydrogen economy  If these recommendations are followed there is no reason to believe that hydrogen will be riskier than conventional fuels

Risoe National Laboratory Slide no. 17 Conclusions  Long-term challenges such as climate change and security of energy supply require long-term solutions  A combination of fuel cells, which will reach commercial maturity in years, and a hydrogen infrastructure could be a way forward if the technological barriers can be overcome

Risoe National Laboratory Slide no. 18 Conclusions  The most pressing technical issue is to develop better storage systems for hydrogen, especially in the transport sector  In the long term, hydrogen could be a key element in highly diversified, robust, environmentally-benign and affordable energy systems

Risoe National Laboratory Slide no. 19 Recommendations – triple helix Research on selected techno- logy platforms Demonstration projects Europe-wide projects Development of international standards and regulations Research programmes Lighthouse projects Regulation Market incentives Focused R&D push Development projects Prototypes Commercial introduction Society BusinessResearch Hydrogen Technology Platform

Risoe National Laboratory Slide no. 20 Recommendations  Involvement of developing countries to ensure adequate system design and reduce time lag for technological penetration and market development  Involve policy makers in developing countries in decisions concerning hydrogen economy  Providing high quality information

Risoe National Laboratory Slide no. 21 Recommendations More research in  Hydrogen production by environment- friendly technologies  Fuel cells and electrolysers as key technologies for balancing electricity grids in conjunction with hydrogen storage and distribution systems  The environmental effects of hydrogen

Risoe National Laboratory Slide no. 22 Recommendations  Storage of hydrogen for use in vehicles, power plants and electronics, including portable applications  Infrastructure development, especially in the transport sector  International standards and regulations

Risoe National Laboratory Slide no. 23 Hydrogen – a challenge and an opportunity for the future The aims of the conference  to highlight international government commitment to hydrogen R&D to ensure energy diversity – and environmental improvements – in road transport use  to highlight and stimulate public-private partnership in the field of hydrogen technology R&D  to provide new figures on the economic realities of building a hydrogen infrastructure  benchmarking current state of play regarding feasibility of hydrogen commercialisation