Hydrogen ideal biofuel
According to the Carmarthenshire Energy Agency of Wales, which launched the Wales-Ireland Rural Hydrogen Energy Project (WIRHEP), producing hydrogen from sustainable natural resources has huge potential for rural diversification.
Partners in the project include the University of Glamorgan, the Farmers Union of Wales, and Carmarthenshire County Council in Wales, and Waterford Energy Bureau in Ireland.
Willow crops, or sunflowers, are possible sources of biomass for hydrogen production. Or the fuel could come from the sun or wind on a hydrogen farm in a rural setting. Hydrogen from renewable resources like trees can be obtained by using microbes to break down the willow into methane and hydrogen gas. Or willow could be used to generate electricity to produce hydrogen, because the growing crops would have balanced out the carbon dioxide emitted in electricity production. Another possibility is to use solar power to release hydrogen into its useful molecular form as a gas.
Whatever the source, hydrogen is seen as a clean, pollution-free form of energy, and an ideal replacement for fossil fuels, because it can play a role in combating climate change.
Governments and companies around the world are investing heavily into research and development projects which can realise hydrogen’s huge potential. As countries which share similar characteristics in terms of their natural rural environments. Wales and Ireland are ideally placed to take full advantage of this potential,” said a spokesman for the Carmarthenshire Energy Agency. “As countries which share similar characteristics in terms of their natural rural environments, Wales and Ireland are ideally placed to take full advantage of this potential.”
The WIRHEP project to develop the Wales-Ireland hydrogen energy partnership, and produce a blueprint for hydrogen production from rural renewable energy sources, runs to March 2008. The next phase would involve constructing a viable demonstration facility for hydrogen production, with commercial spin-offs.
The National Botanic Garden of Wales has been identified as an ideal site for a hydrogen farm.
