UNU-MERIT Hydrogen Fuel Cell Exchange

This website grew out of a research project at UNU-INTECH (now UNU-MERIT) on 'new wave technologies' and exclusion of developing countries. The purpose of the project was to raise awareness of emergent hydrogen and fuel cell technologies and to enhance long-term transport and energy decision-making in developing countries by benchmarking hydrogen fuel cell activities in the transport sector around the world.
Hydrogen and fuel cells have been identified as an important technological opportunity for addressing greenhouse gas emissions and energy security issues related to transport.

While most fuel cell and hydrogen activities are taking place in Japan, Iceland, North America and the European Union, there are some activities taking place in developing countries. Research on fuel cell and related technologies is being carried out in several developing countries -Brazil, China, India, Malaysia, Singapore and South Africa, for example, and a few of these are also developing fuel cell bus, car and hydrogen station demonstration projects , some with assistance from the UNDP Global Environment Facility. A larger group of developing countries are in the process of creating National Hydrogen Road maps that set goals for the future and expand the application of hydrogen and fuel cells beyond the transport sector to include stationary power, especially in rural areas not served by electric grids.

Although Brazil, India, and China are members of the International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy initiated in 2003 by the US Department of Energy, there is little in the way of industry, government or internationally led efforts to monitor or prepare research, policy and education strategies for this emerging technology from the developing country perspective. There is a need to begin benchmarking and fostering collaboration among developing countries, a need to include less technologically advanced developing countries in the discussion and to begin analyzing the costs, benefits, opportunities and risks of fuel cells and hydrogen technology from the perspective of a range of these countries.

In collaboration with UNU-GTP (Iceland) and UNU-ESD (Japan) an international conference on Hydrogen Fuel Cells and Alternatives in the Transport Sector: Issues for Developing Countries was held in Maastricht from 5-7 November 2005. Forty experts drawn from the private sector, research organizations and policymaking institutions in both developed and developing countries assessed the status of hydrogen fuel cell activities and alternative technology applications in the transport sector.

Download conference presentations

Growing out of the conference, this website has been designed to provide:

• a window on new developments in hydrogen fuel cell technologies and alternatives;
• information on national policies and programmes dealing with hydrogen & fuel cells, energy and transport strategies of relevance to strategic decision-making;
• new thinking about transitions to a hydrogen economy, and;
• updates on conferences and other on-line sources of analysis and data on hydrogen, fuel cells and alternatives in the transport and energy sectors.
  

News update

Making Choices about Hydrogen
As oil prices continue to rise unabated, governments, firms and individual consumers, are starting to take alternative fuel sources much more seriously. A timely new UNU-MERIT book titled, “Making Choices about Hydrogen: Transport Issues for Developing Countries” (UNU Press) argues that while major challenges remain - including cost and design issues - a hydrogen economy could be within reach if policymakers make radical choices now. For developing countries in particular, this requires rejecting the ‘inevitability’ of the paths taken by industrialized countries, by moving away from ‘use up and clean up’ fuel production and distribution structures to embrace cleaner and more efficient technology combinations (such as wind and solar-driven hydrogen production).
More information

South Africa hosts second phase of Hydrogen Project
Following the completion of the first phase of the UNU-MERIT Hydrogen Fuel Cell Exchange project on which the above book is based, South Africa’s Department of Science and Technology has agreed to host the project as part of its work on green transport - currently focused on LPG, bio-diesel, bio-ethanol and CNG. The project will continue to monitor developments in the emerging hydrogen economy under the auspices of the country’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Research, Development and Innovation Strategy, approved by the Cabinet in 2007. The new HFCX website is currently under construction and will be unveiled in November 2008. Visit the DST website

UNU-MERIT CSD-15 Side Event on Hydrogen Fuel Cells and Alternatives in the Energy and Transport Sectors: Policy Issues for Developing Countries

The following presentations now available:

Building the Hydrogen Economy: Enabling Infrastructure Development, by Dr. Robert K. Dixon, Head, Energy Technology Policy Division, International Energy Agency (PDF 129 KB)

The Hydrogen Energy Market in developing countries: The Role of UNIDO-ICHET, by Dr. N. Lymberopoulos, Director, Projects and Programmes (PDF 1 MB)

Egypt’s Policies and Measures for Sustainable Transport, by Prof. Ibrahim Abdel Gelil, Director, Environmental Management Programme at the Arabian Gulf University, Bahrain (PDF 437 KB)

Hydrogen Fuel Cells and Alternatives in the Energy and Transport Sectors: Issues for Developing Countries, by Lynn K. Mytelka, Professorial Fellow, UNU-MERIT (PDF 37 KB)

Additional presentations will be posted here as they become available