Running from July 30 to August 8, the 2nd European Summer School on Hydrogen Safety will hear keynote addresses from 13 world-leading hydrogen experts as well as presentations and input from many of the 60 EU-funded young researchers from around the world.

Robert P. Morley, manager of the Hydrogen Safety Programme at UU, said: “Hydrogen is a very clean fuel which reverts back to water when burned. It can be re-used again and again, making its sustainable and renewable – vital virtues in the modern world when we are running out of traditional fossil fuels.

“Hydrogen has a problem image because of fires in airships in the last century. But the problem lay not directly with the gas but with the fact that the airships were made of a highly combustible fabric and if caught in a severe electrical storm the fabric could ignite causing a serious fire with the loss of the hydrogen and the airship.

“Over the years we have learned how to work safely with dangerous fuels, for example petrol and LPG, and the aim of this Summer School  is to bring together all the latest research and safety knowledge on hydrogen and disseminate it as widely as possible to encourage further development.

“Hydrogen can be employed directly or through fuel cells and it has been used for more than three years powering some London buses.  There are already some hydrogen-fuelled cars and motor bikes but currently only in small quantities.  It can also be used to heat homes and produce electricity, as well as providing industry with heat, light and power and eventually will power air and rail transport as well.

“We have to convince the public that hydrogen is both a safe and a viable fuel. At UU we do a lot of research and modelling into hydrogen safety, for example we examine what happens when hydrogen leaks from pipes or storage vessels.

“In view of the current debate on climate change and the fact that we are running out of fuels like oil, there is great interest and incentive in finding long term reliable alternative environmentally friendly solutions which do not rely on particular weather conditions (sun, waves, wind etc.). We believe hydrogen is one of those solutions”.